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Failure to Meet the Reserve Price: The Impact on Returns to Art

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  • Beggs, Alan
  • Graddy, Kathryn

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical study of paintings that have failed to meet their reserve price at auction. In the art trade it is often claimed that when an advertised item goes unsold at auction, its future value will be affected. We have constructed a new dataset specifically for the purpose of testing this proposition. To preview our results, we find that paintings that come to auction and failed return significantly less when they are eventually sold than those paintings that have not been advertised at auction between sales. These lower returns may occur because of common value effects, idiosyncratic downward trends in tastes, or changes in the seller's reserve price.

Suggested Citation

  • Beggs, Alan & Graddy, Kathryn, 2006. "Failure to Meet the Reserve Price: The Impact on Returns to Art," CEPR Discussion Papers 5811, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5811
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    Cited by:

    1. William N. Goetzmann & Luc Renneboog & Christophe Spaenjers, 2011. "Art and Money," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 222-226, May.
    2. Michel Clement & Anke Lepthien & Tim Schulze, 2016. "Erfolgsfaktoren bei der Vermarktung von Kunst [Success Factors for Marketing of Arts]," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 68(4), pages 377-400, December.
    3. Kathryn Graddy & Jonathan Hamilton, 2014. "Auction House Guarantees for Works of Art," ACEI Working Paper Series AWP-02-2014, Association for Cultural Economics International, revised May 2014.
    4. Spaenjers, Christophe & Goetzmann, William N. & Mamonova, Elena, 2015. "The economics of aesthetics and record prices for art since 1701," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 79-94.
    5. Orley Ashenfelter & Kathryn Graddy, 2011. "Art Auctions," Chapters, in: Ruth Towse (ed.), A Handbook of Cultural Economics, Second Edition, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Etro, Federico & Stepanova, Elena, 2021. "Art return rates from old master paintings to contemporary art," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 94-116.
    7. William N. Goetzmann & Luc Renneboog & Christophe Spaenjers, 2011. "Art and Money," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 222-226, May.
    8. Seohyeon Hwang & Jiye Ryu & Kihoon Hong, 2025. "The paradox of being unsold: hidden signaling value of bought-in in Korean art auction," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 49(3), pages 639-658, September.
    9. Sogn-Grundvåg, Geir & Zhang, Dengjun, 2023. "Commodities failing in auctions: The story of unsold cod in Norway," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    10. Spaenjers , Christophe & Goetzmann , William, 2014. "The Economics of Aesthetics and Three Centuries of Art Price Records," HEC Research Papers Series 1055, HEC Paris.
    11. Orley Ashenfelter & Kathryn Graddy, 2011. "Art Auctions," Chapters, in: Ruth Towse (ed.), A Handbook of Cultural Economics, Second Edition, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Geraldine David & Christian Huemer & Kim Oosterlinck, 2023. "Art dealers’ inventory strategy: the case of Goupil, Boussod & Valadon from 1860 to 1914," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 65(1), pages 24-55, January.
    13. Jianping Mei & Michael Moses & Yi Zhou, 2023. "Residual variance and asset pricing in the art market," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 47(3), pages 513-545, September.
    14. repec:pri:cepsud:203ashenfelter is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Chanont Banternghansa & Kathryn Graddy, 2011. "The impact of the Droit de Suite in the UK: an empirical analysis," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 35(2), pages 81-100, May.
    16. A. Collins & A. E. Scorcu & R. Zanola, 2007. "Sample Selection Bias and Time Instability of Hedonic Art Price Indexes," Working Papers 610, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    17. Oosterlinck, Kim & David, Géraldine & Huemer, Christian, 2019. "Art Dealers’ Inventory Strategy The case of Goupil, Boussod & Valadon from 1860 to 1914," CEPR Discussion Papers 13941, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Marinelli, Nicoletta & Palomba, Giulio, 2011. "A model for pricing Italian Contemporary Art paintings at auction," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 212-224, May.
    19. Graddy, Kathryn & Hamilton, Jonathan, 2017. "Auction guarantees for works of art," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 303-312.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

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