All templates
Auction Results

Auction Results Press Release Template and Example

Within hours of a sale closing, while the result is still news. This is the most numerical release in the art world and the one where editorial flourish does the most damage.

The example

Alvarez Weaving Sets Artist Record at £182,000

The Evening Sale of Contemporary Art totalled £14.2 million, with 92 per cent of lots sold

"Selvedge (Piedras Negras)," a 2025 weaving by Maria Alvarez, sold for £182,000 including premium at the Evening Sale of Contemporary Art on 12 October, against an estimate of £60,000 to £90,000. The result is a record for the artist at auction, exceeding the previous mark of £74,000 set in March.

The work drew bidding from five participants over four minutes and was bought by a European private collection.

The sale totalled £14.2 million across 48 lots, with 92 per cent sold by lot and 96 per cent by value. Six works exceeded their high estimates.

Other notable results included a 1971 canvas by Rosa Iglesias at £940,000 against an estimate of £700,000 to £1 million, and a bronze by Tomás Ferreiro at £310,000, a record for the artist.

Sale: Evening Sale of Contemporary Art, 12 October 2026

Sale total: £14.2 million

Sold by lot: 92 per cent. Sold by value: 96 per cent

All figures include buyer's premium unless stated

Press enquiries: press@example-auctions.example

Every artist, gallery and institution in this example is invented.

Why it works

The number is the headline

Market desks lead with the figure. A headline that leads with excitement and buries the price will be rewritten, and rewriting is where errors enter.

Always state premium

Hammer price and price with premium are different numbers and get compared across houses. Saying which one you are quoting, every time, is the difference between being cited and being corrected.

Give the estimate alongside the result

A price without its estimate is uninterpretable. The estimate is what makes £182,000 a story rather than a number.

Sell-through both ways

By lot and by value tell different stories, and a sale can look strong on one and weak on the other. Publishing both is what a serious desk expects.

Conventions
  • Lead with the top result or the record, whichever is more newsworthy.
  • Give estimates next to every price.
  • State whether figures include buyer's premium.
  • Give sell-through by lot and by value.
  • Describe the buyer only as far as you are permitted: private collection, institution, trade.
  • Send within hours. Auction results age faster than any other art news.
What gets it deleted
  • Describing a result as "staggering" or "historic" instead of giving the comparison.
  • Omitting the estimate, which makes the number meaningless.
  • Mixing hammer and premium figures in the same release.
  • Identifying a buyer beyond what has been agreed.
  • Reporting only the successes from a sale that largely failed. Desks check.
Write yours

ArtWire writes this one for you

Nineteen categories, each with its own register, so an auction result does not read like a residency announcement. Free to start, no credit card.