By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – The first day of bidding for antiquities from the Albright Knox Art Gallery ended in a $16 million bonanza Tuesday.
With only 23 of the 207 pieces sold, the gallery has already topped the $15 million it had hoped to make from the entire sale. It took less than two hours of bidding at the Sotheby's auction in New York for the ancient Chinese art to get snapped up at top dollar.
And the bulk of the deaccession list has still to be sold over the next few months. Gallery spokeswoman Cheryl Orlick read a statement from Gallery Director Louis Grachos.
"We are extremely pleased, and a little surprised, by the results of the sale. While it's never easy to let go of any part of a collection, this was a very succcessful beginning," the statement read.
A Sotheby's spokesperson says the nearly two dozen items sold for many multiples of the pre-auction estimates. The top seller was a bronze wine vessel from the Shang Dynasty that brought in more than eight million dollars.
Last week a judge dismissed the case of a group that wanted to delay the auction.