In its annual assessment of France's auction market, the national regulatory body for the sector, the auction house Council, reported that overall auction sales climbed to a record €4.6bn last year, representing growth of more than 7% for the second year in a row. However, in sharp contrast, results for fine arts and collectibles have actually decreased, ending two years of strong post-Covid 19 recovery for those categories.
The figures show that the good results of the whole auction market are due to a massive 24.7% increase in the sales of second hand cars and industrial material, which have reached €2.5bn and represent more than half the total value of auction sales in France.
The fine arts are, however, struggling. Contemporary art sales fell by 4% (€248m), Old Masters and sculptures by 18% (€110m), Asian art by 19% (€103m) and books and manuscripts by 13%. For ancient furniture and art objects, a category hit by changing tastes and a number of forgery and trafficking scandals, the fall is even more dramatic, plummeting by 43% (€128m).
The council conducts yearly assessments of national activity, based on data collected directly from the 482 auction companies across France. It has only revealed the first results of its investigation and will refrain from commenting on the results until the completion of a more exhaustive study scheduled for this spring.
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