Do Television Dramas Increase Prices at Auction?
January 4 2021
Picture: Tatler
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Telegraph and other news sources have posted articles in the past few days concerning the alleged effect of Netflix's series The Crown on increasing the price of works by Winston Churchill at auction. It has been suggested that his sympathetic portrayal in the show has perhaps helped to bolster the price of his works.
Sotheby's Senior Director of Modern & Post War Art Simon Hucker is quoted as saying:
What The Crown does is bring these figures from British political history very much to life – and makes them very human. John Lithgow portrayed Churchill as this warm and genial old man, guiding the young Queen as best he can, whilst his own health fades and perhaps it is this side of Churchill that people see in his paintings.
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Personally, I think this is just a bit of click-bait marketing spiel. Television series surely have some effect placing certain individuals in the spotlight, but it must be near impossible to judge its effect on sales results. The case of Churchill is particularly difficult. He is a figure who has always been in the spotlight in this part of the world at least. If anything, there has been a noticeable growing trend by certain groups seeking to revise his legacy in a less positive light.
Yet, it's seemed to me that Churchill's prices at auction had already been growing rather steadily over the past decade or so. In fact, Bendor penned this post for AHN back in 2011 on this very trend.
But if I'm wrong about this, let's have more drama series on old master painters, I'd say!
