Sotheby’s Commits to Streetwear
Sotheby's x Supreme, and a billionaire collector in trouble with the law
Cultured is a newsletter by Otis that gets readers up to speed on the most interesting things going on at the intersection of finance, art, collectibles, NFTs, and more.
🗞 STORIES OF THE DAY
Sotheby’s doubles down on streetwear auctions
After several big sales over the past few years (including the record for most expensive sneakers sold at auction with a $1.8 million pair of Air Yeezys worn by Ye himself), Sotheby’s is now making streetwear a permanent category.
The auction house is kicking off the new category with a lot of more than 200 Supreme skateboard decks, which it hopes will bring in close to $100,000, as well as a drop of Supreme x Louis Vuitton goods.
Brahm Wachter, who has the sick job of head of streetwear and modern collectibles at Sotheby’s, said the company’s sneaker category grew 3x as much as it expected this year.
Our Take: Big auction houses aren’t going to let themselves get left behind by the streetwear boom.
Sotheby’s might be known for highbrow art, but at the end of the day, it’s an auction house. That means its main goal is to sell luxury products. With online streetwear marketplaces booming, Sotheby’s knows that if they don’t deliver, buyers will take their business elsewhere.
Collector surrenders looted items, banned from collecting for life
Billionaire collector Michael Steinhardt was forced to surrender nearly 200 looted items. He is banned from collecting other relics for the rest of his life.
Investigators at the Manhattan DA tracked the items from war-torn countries like Lebanon and Iraq to Steinhardt’s personal collection. Some were also loaned out to the Met and other museums.
Steinhardt is a huge name in the world of collecting. He has one of the most important antiquities collections in the world and a substantial modern and contemporary collection. Oh, and a gallery at the Met.
Our Take: Provenance, provenance, provenance.
While there’s no legal requirement to know the origins of items before a sale, Steinhardt’s experience is a warning sign for collectors. If you don’t know the provenance of a work, you’re in the dark about where it’s been and how it got to you. That isn’t really a problem with NFTs, since the blockchain documents transfers, but with physical items it’s always best to be wary of gaps in its history.
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