ALT/FNDATA · Special Report
Auction-House Market-Share Analysis: Value vs. Volume
Sotheby's extended its lead and Christie's slipped; Phillips owns watches; and the value and volume tables tell two different stories.
Market share is the cleanest thing auction data measures, because it holds coverage constant: it does not matter which sales are captured, only who won the ones that were. Read by value and by volume, the league table shows a market consolidating at the top, with two houses taking most of the dollars and a different two taking most of the lots.
The headline
The correction in three numbers
30.4%
Sotheby's share of tracked value
Up from 26.5% a year earlier. Sotheby's extended its lead as Christie's slipped to 16.9%.
57.3%
Phillips' share of watch value
Up from 46.6%. Phillips owns the watch marquee, with Christie's a distant second.
2.2%
RM Sotheby's share of car volume
On which it takes 14.5% of car value: the marquee model, where a few lots carry the dollars.
Auction-house market share by value and volume, the relative read that holds coverage constant. · 13M+ auction results · 100+ houses.
The read
What the data shows
Market share is the one figure in auction data you can trust without caveat, because it holds coverage constant: it does not matter which sales get captured, only who won them. Read that way, the table shows a business consolidating at the top, with Sotheby's pulling away, Christie's slipping, and Phillips owning the watch marquee, so whether you are consigning, buying, or benchmarking a house, this is the map of who actually commands each category.
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- The full overall league table, value and volume share
- Why value share and volume share tell two different stories
- Category by category: art, watches, cars, jewelry, handbags
- What the standings say about where the market is consolidating
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