As of 2016, New York will host biannual sales in April and October, and London in July and December. This is a near direct switch of locations from the current schedule where biannual sales are held in London in April and October and New York in June and December.
The move is related to a new themed series of sales branded 'Classic Art Week' which was unveiled in October. The venture, part of Christie's strategy of creating 'marquee' auction weeks, brings together sales of antiquities, sculpture, decorative arts and Old Masters in New York in April and London in July.
An antiquities sale for April 12 at the Rockefeller Center in New York is already listed on Christie's website.
As for the wider antiquities schedule, the changes will affect both Bonhams and Sotheby's. Each presently hold concurrent dedicated auctions with Christie's in London and New York respectively.
Bonhams have already told ATG it will shift its London sales to fit Christie's new calendar and say the next sale will be held on July 7. They are yet to fix a December date. Meanwhile Sotheby's said it was "still in the process of working out the sales calendar" and this year's December 8 antiquities sale in New York was all they had confirmed at present.
