Couple of hundred grand on a baseball card?

[brass_rat]

Don't get too excited, everyone. It may be telling that "Tobacco" -- also by Basquiat -- only sold for $1.2m.
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/...761/lot.9.html

Seriously though, here are some quotes, papers, and links to consider. No opinions on my part.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/a...t-auction.html

"...Mr. Maezawa, the 41-year-old founder of Contemporary Art Foundation, who last year set the previous auction high for Basquiat, paying $57.3 million for the artist’s large 1982 painting of a horned devil at Christie’s."

"Whether one active collector makes a market remains to be seen. It will take another major Basquiat to test the sustainability of this $100 million level."


http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/...ndeis_WP71.pdf

"One recent development is the third-party guarantee, also known as the irrevocable bid. The auction house finds a potential buyer who
agrees to pay a guaranteed price if the hammer price is lower. If the hammer price is higher, the seller and the guarantor split the difference after the commission, with some exceptions."

Would it be possible then, that the phone buyer was the third-party guarantor with knowledge that Mr. Maezawa would be a likely candidate to be bidding to win? Googling high-end art auction information leads one to a variety of interesting information. Several tactics in the art auction world may surprise people, myself included.

I believe the Sotheby's catalog did indicate that a third-party guarantor was utilized on this lot.

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/...61/lot.24.html

Cheers,
Steve