Total sales from art auction hit P627 million in 2017, industry expected to grow in 2018

Over the holidays, Salcedo Auctions, the Philippine's premiere auction house, shared they ended 2017 with P627 million in total sales — an 18% increase from last year's sales.

One of the biggest winning bids this year was made in September on a circa 1970 vintage Oyster Cosmograph Rolex Daytona Paul Newman "Panda." The watch went to a collector from Hong Kong, who raised the bid from P3.5 million to P22.2 million.

Works by three National Artists for Visual Arts in September also fetched an impressive P55 million in total. Jose Joya's "Cascade" (1965) set a world record of P22.2 million, Ang Kiukok's "Harvest" (1990) sold for P17.5 million, and Benedicto Cabrera's "Long Haired Woman" (1998) secured P16.4 million.

BenCab's "Long Haired Woman"

Ang Kiukok's "Fisherman" (1996) fetched an additional P16.4 million in March. Notable sales also include Mauro Malang Santos' "Barrio Scene" (1974), which sold for P8.2 million, and Jose John Santos III's "One Way" (2005), which sold for P15.2 million.

"The year 2017 was a record breaker and 2018 promises to be a bountiful one for the Philippine art scene. Salcedo Auctions will help make sure the harvest in the coming year will be plenty," Salcedo Auctions director, Richie Lerma was quoted as saying in a statement shared with the press.

Jose John Santos III's 2005 work "One Way"

The launch of Gavel&Block in 2017 was seen as a boost for the industry and it will return in April 2018, this time done in partnership with International School Manila. The auction will double as a fundraiser for Vicky SyCip Herrera Filipino Scholarships.

Four auctions are also scheduled in March: "Important Philippine Art", "Important Philippine Furniture", "Important Philippine Tribal and Ethnographic Art", and "Fine Jewelry and Timepieces".

Ang Kiukok's "Harvest" (1990) sold for P17.5 million

"Art collecting has been going on for centuries and by and large, for important artworks, the trajectory over time has always been up," said Lerma. — LA, GMA News