Christie's history

In 1824 Christie’s moved to a new location at 8 King Street, off affluent St James’s Square, which is still its address.

In 1831 William Manson joined the firm.

Such a sale in 1848, for the Duke of Buckingham's Stowe House, lasted 40 days and realized £77,562.

In 1859, Thomas J. Woods joined the firm which temporarily changed its name to Christie, Manson & Woods.

The year 1889 saw the retirement of the last of the Christie family to be associated with the company: James Christie IV. Christie's held the first auction of Impressionist paintings in Britain in the same year.

In 1892, Christie's organized its first Impressionist sale auctioning Figures dans un Café (or L'Absinthe) by Edgar Degas.

By 1917, the company was holding regular art auctions.

The portrait was sold by Christie's for £360,900 in 1926.

Other significant sales in the interwar period included the Russian crown jewels, which realized nearly £250,000 in 1927.

In 1940, R.W. Lloyd bought a substantial share of Christie's stock and thus became chairman of the company.

In 1958, Christie's was reorganized as Christie, Manson and Woods Ltd: the new company issued £60,000 worth of capital.

In 1960 Christie's reported sales of £2.7 million, and the following year that figure had risen to £3.1 million.

In 1965, Christie's acquired White Bros.

Another wartime inconvenience was the suspension of wine sales, which did not resume until 1966.

In response, Christie's established a new subsidiary, Christie's International S.A., which was incorporated in Geneva in 1967 to oversee European business.

In two years, after practically doubling 1972's profits, Peter Chance announced his retirement as chair of Christie, Manson and Woods, although he would remain chairman of Christie's International plc for two more years.

In 1973, Christie’s became a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

In autumn 1974, Christie's acquired Debenham and Coe in South Kensington, for the purpose of handling lower value lots more efficiently than was possible at its King Street facility.

In 1975, Christie’s opened a secondary salesroom in South Kensington.

The subsidiary Christie’s International Inc opened up for business on Park Avenue in New York City in 1977 with a salesroom large enough for about 600 visitors.

In 1978, a second New York showroom, dubbed Christie's East, was opened in a six-story East 67th Street garage.

American sales were becoming increasingly important to the British-based firm; by 1983, New York sales had surpassed those from London.

Such valuable collections attracted interest from all walks of life, and in 1984 a group of armed robbers stormed into a jewelry auction at King Street, wielding a shotgun and a sledgehammer.

Before resigning in 1989, Jo Floyd had secured a new 125-year lease for expanded premises on King Street.

In 1990, Van Gogh's Portrait of Dr Gachet became the most expensive work of art by selling for $82.5 million.

In 1993, Christie’s purchased Spink & Sons, a London gallery specialising in Oriental art and British paintings.

The top price achieved was taken by Nude with Joyous Painting (1994) by Roy Lichtenstein for a grand total of $46,242,500.

In March 1995, Davidge announced a new two percent commission on sales of more than $5 million.

The choice fell on a Manhattan townhouse on East 59th Street, which was purchased by Christie’s in 1996.

In 1997, the affluent city of Beverly Hills in Los Angeles county got their first Christie’s salesroom.

In December 1999, after 34 years with Christie's, Davidge was terminated and replaced by Edward Dolman, the head of the United States operation.

In 2000, allegations surfaced of a price-fixing arrangement between Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

In 2001, Christie’s East on 219 East 67th Street was closed down.

Spink-Leger was closed in 2002.

2007 was also the year when the contemporary art gallery Haunch of Venison was acquired by Christie’s and became one of its subsidiaries.

In 2008, Christie’s signed a 50-year leas on a more than hundred year old warehouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn in New York City.

Since 2009, Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS) has been present in the Singapore FreePort, where it takes up 40% of the total space.

The company then spent $30 million to convert it into a suitable high-security and climate controlled facility for Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS). The warehouse opened in 2010, featuring 250,000 square foot of storage space divided over six storeys.

Later in 2013, StarNet Insurance Co filed a similar lawsuit against CFASS, claiming that CFASS’s negligence had resulted in serious damage to art owned by the LeRoy Nieman Foundation and the artist’s estate.

Christie’s got its first female CEO in 2014, when Patricia Barbizet was appointed Chief Executive Officer.

Then in 2015, Christie's broke another record when Les Femmes d'Alger by Picasso was sold for $179,365,000, and Nu Couché by Modigliani for $170,405,000.

Moreover, in 2016, Christie's released the book Going Once: 250 years of Culture, Taste and Collecting at Christie's which covered 250 of the most remarkable works of art to have been auctioned over the course of Christie's history.

In 2017, Christie’s closed down their South Kensington salesroom in London.

In 2018, another momentous event took place at Christie's when the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller was auctioned for a total of $832.6 million, the highest ever for a private collection.

In 2019, Christie's had a fairly good year, as described in the Christie's 2019 Annual Report, stating that their 2019 sales were $5.8 billion.

Recent innovations at Christie’s include the groundbreaking sale of the first NFT for a digital work of art ever offered at a major auction house (Beeple’s Everydays, March 2021), with the unprecedented acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of payment.