The head of “Gus,” one of the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever found, is pictured during a press preview at the Sotheby’s Breuer building in New York, on July 1, 2026.
Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
The major auction houses racked up nearly $10 billion in sales in the first half, marking one of the strongest-ever starts to the year as the wealthy gained confidence from soaring financial stock markets.
Sotheby’s reported its best first half ever, with $4.4 billion in sales, up 58% from last year and marking a record for the 282-year-old auction house. Christie’s had its best first half since 2021, reporting sales of $4.5 billion, up 71%. Phillips, Heritage and other auctioneers also had breakout starts to the year.
There were eight lots that sold for more than $50 million in the first half, compared with none in 2024 and 2025, according to Artnet. Auction executives and dealers say the explosive rebound in the art market, following nearly three years of declines, is being driven largely by the massive wealth creation from the artificial intelligence boom, IPOs and rising stocks.
“The numbers mean there is confidence in the market,” Christie’s CEO Bonnie Brennan said at the Christie’s Art + Tech Summit last week. “There are people willing to sell great objects and there are people spending great amounts of money to acquire those special one-of-one works.”
Added Sotheby’s CEO Charles Stewart: “The wealth being created now is the number one factor in our business right now. It’s obviously very visible when you sit here in New York and talk about the SpaceX IPO and these different tech IPOs coming and the AI fever.”
While the dollar totals are being driven largely by a select group of hyper-priced works at the very top of the market, the strength is across the board, in almost all price points and almost every category. Fine art, classic cars, watches, handbags, diamonds, whiskey and even dinosaur bones are all seeing new records.
Leading the first half was a Jackson Pollock drip painting, titled “Number 7A, 1948,” which sold for $181 million at Christie’s. The work, considered one of Pollock’s most epic and defining works, had previously been owned by media magnate and collector S.I. Newhouse, which added to its appeal. A Brancusi sculpture also previously owned by Newhouse went for $107.6 million.
A new wave of younger collectors, many from the tech world, is also redefining collectibles.
In classic cars, 1950s and 1960s sports cars used to dominate the price charts. Now supercars from the 1990s and 2000s are the hottest sellers.
Watches are gaining in popularity among tech bros. Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo reported $235 million in watch auctions in the first half, marking its largest ever. The strong bidding stretched across its auctions in New York, Geneva and Hong Kong. While Patek Philippe remains strong, young collectors are battling over pieces from more rarified, independent brands.
The priciest watch sold in the first half was an F.P. Journe Souscription Résonance, which went for $13.9 million. Mark Zuckerberg has become one of the most high-profile devotees of F.P. Journe in recent years, and has sported seven-figure F.P. Journes in public.
Brennan said 30% of the buyers in the first half were new to Christie’s, with 47% of them millennials or younger, and that 85% of bids were placed online.
“What we show people and how they engage with Christie’s is evolving,” she said.
One of the hottest new categories is also the oldest — dinosaur bones. Sotheby’s sold a fossil specimen of a Tyrannosaurus rex this month for $50.1 million, making it the most expensive fossil ever auctioned. The T. rex, named “Gus,” was excavated out of the South Dakota badlands and is estimated to be 67 million years old.
Gus’ new owner hasn’t been identified. But the sale followed a stegosaurus that was sold by Sotheby’s in 2024 to hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin for $44.6 million. The stegosaurus, named “Apex,” is on loan to the Museum of Natural History.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang speaks at the COMPUTEX forum in Taipei, Taiwan May 29, 2023.
Ann Wang | Reuters
Stewart said institutions as well as individuals are bidding up dinosaur fossils. Seven bidders battled for Gus for 10 minutes, as new wealth vied for a piece of prehistoric history. At 38 feet long, Gus will need either a museum or a very large living room for his new home.
“I say it’s ‘SpaceX to T. rex,'” Stewart said. “It’s not just that these people have made the money. They’re looking at market valuations and they’re making a judgment about store of value.”
Young tech money is also bidding up the values of sports memorabilia and pop culture. Just weeks after the New York Knicks won the NBA championship, a jersey worn by Jalen Brunson in Game 1 of the series against the Spurs sold at Sotheby’s for $1.024 million.
Even Jensen Huang’s leather jackets have become collectibles. A black leather Tom Ford jacket that the Nvidia CEO wore to a Foxconn event in Taiwan in 2023 sold for $960,000, blowing away its presale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. The proceeds went to charity.
“People are spending money on fun, collectible items that they want to have,” said Jeffrey Yin, CEO of Artsy and Artnet.
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