The Price of Certainty: Anika Guntrum on Phillips and Sotheby’s London

Twelve hours after the Phillips and Sotheby’s evening sales, Josh Baer sits down with Anika Guntrum, Managing Director in Europe for Gurr Johns. She spent 28 years in Christie’s Impressionist and Modern department before crossing to the other side of the paddle.

Does priority bidding actually make a room more competitive? If the guarantee has become the market price, is anyone still bidding against it — and is a guaranteed sale a real price at all? Does an Ellsworth Kelly mean the same thing in Doha, London or Shanghai as it does in New York?

We’ll be back next week for the Paris sales — watch this space.