Sotheby's shares jump as Bacon artwork sells for record price

By Dhanya Skariachan

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Shares of global auction house Sotheby's (BID.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) rose more than 9 percent Thursday, a day after a Francis Bacon painting was snapped up for a record-breaking $86 million at its New York post-war art auction, soothing concerns about a slowdown in the art market.

Sotheby's has lost 23 percent of its market value this year as the art market has been plagued by fears that wealthy buyers may not have enough money to spend on art in the wake of the credit crunch and U.S. economic downturn.

But at the Sotheby's auction on Wednesday, Bacon's artwork, "Triptych, 1976," broke the previous record for a work by the Irish-born artist and also the prior record for post-war or contemporary art, which was held by Mark Rothko's "White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)."

"Bacon has been doing well lately... it is a trend and this was a good find by Sotheby's," Jody Kevin Kane, an analyst with Sidoti & Co said from New York. He said the Triptych was a "pretty sought-after" piece.

Last November, Sotheby's sold Bacon's "Second Version of Study for Bullfight No. 1" for $46 million, which exceeded the pre-sale estimate of the canvas by more than $10 million.

Sotheby's has outstripped privately held rival Christie's on sales of Bacon works in the recent past, Kane added.

Sotheby's had expected the monumental three-canvas Triptych painting to leave the auction block for about $70 million, but two determined telephone bidders drove up the price to $86,281,000, including the auction house's commission.

Although Sotheby's did not reveal the identity of the bidders, Kane said they may have been from Europe and Asia.