A successful Romano sale in Florence proves there are exceptions to recessionary rules

Sotheby’s recent four-day sale of the Salvatore and Francesco Romano collection in Florence contained more than 1,800 lots. International interest in the auction was keen, even though there was not a single masterpiece among the antique statues, Old Master paintings, textiles, pieces of furniture or objets d’art. Many foreign dealers and collectors who had come to Italy for the sumptuous and lively Biennale dell’Antiquarioto (which ended on October 4th) crossed the Arno to the Palazzo Magnani Ferroni for a look even before the official public viewing began. (The auction, which went from October 12th to the 16th, was timed with the Biennale in mind.)

Once the sale started, as many as 22 employees worked the phones, taking bids from Italy and elsewhere in Europe, America and Russia. The first-floor terrace of the palace was tented for the event, and rows of folding chairs were occupied by a changing cast of paddle wielders, many of them dealers. Others loitered in the vast, art-filled, adjoining rooms waiting for their chosen lots to come up. By its end, the sale made more than €10.5m ($15.5m), exceeding the low estimate by a little more than €72,000. Sotheby’s says it is delighted and so are the consigners. …