Christie’s just announced that they will be offering Jeff Koons’s Balloon Monkey (Blue) (2006-13) in their 20th/21st Century London Evening Sale on October 9, 2024 — from the collection of Damien Hirst, no less.
The published estimate is £6,500,000 - £10,000,000, which is approximately $8,400,000 - $13,000,000, using the currency conversion provided by Eileen Kinsella in an Artnet News article on the consignment, titled “Damien Hirst Is Selling a $8.4 Million Jeff Koons at Christie’s During Frieze London.”
It has become something of a journalistic tic to refer to works of art by a value (e.g., $8.4 Million Jeff Koons) before any sale has taken place, and with no appraisal to cite. Such headlines tagging a work with a number often take their cues from an auction estimate, as was the case with this Koons. However, one must keep in mind that the pre-sale estimates given by auction houses are not appraisals; they are strategic figures assigned for specific sale purposes.
Kinsella reports that the Koons is guaranteed by Christie’s to sell. What she does not specify, however, is that the pre-sale estimates given by auction houses do not include buyer’s premium. It is possible that the sculpture is guaranteed for less than the low estimate, but if in fact it is guaranteed at the low estimate, even a sale to the guarantor would realize a higher price than $8,400,000; such a price would be the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium minus a pre-negotiated fee to the guarantor.