Shares in Sotheby’s, the art auction house, dropped more than 28 per cent in heavy trading on Thursday after a disappointing sale of Impressionist and Modern art in New York on Wednesday night was followed by two analyst downgrades.

The sale, the second big auction of a two-week season, reached $270m (€184m, £128m), about a third lower than estimated, with a quarter of the works failing to sell. Some dealers pointed to the flat sale as evidence that the boom in art prices was coming to an end. There are also concerns over the level of price guarantees that Sotheby’s has offered to sellers.

The rising art market has helped Sotheby’s shares more than double in the past two years.

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Posted: 11|9|07 at 9:18 am. Filed under: Auction News.