Posters and banknotes were in high demand on the auction market in 2023. Here, there was both an increase in the number of transactions and turnover. The opposite was true for paintings of ancient paintings and those belonging to contemporary art, according to the ‘Polish Auction Market Report 2023’ by online auction house OneBid.

Last year, nearly 200,000 items with a total value of more than PLN 0.5 billion were offered at Polish auctions. Turnover on the arts and crafts market amounted to nearly three quarters of this amount, or just under PLN 368 million. In total, more than 30,000 more transactions were made in all categories. However, turnover in the entire market fell by several per cent.

Turnover in paintings from old art catalogues decreased by 39 %, stopping at around PLN 107 million. On average, in 2023, a work of old painting cost PLN 46.3 thousand (excluding auction fees). The top-priced Polish painting from the old art catalogues cost PLN 4.32 million. “Summer Evening” by Józef Chełmoński because the work was bought for its collection by the National Museum in Poznań.

Auction sales of post-war works totalled around PLN 172 million – so it was 25 % lower than in 2022.  An average of PLN 22.6 thousand was paid for a post-war work (excluding auction fees), The auction record fell at PLN 7.56 million and was associated with the sale of a painting by Wojciech Fangor.

More than 2,200 items auctioned in 2023 brought a 22 % increase in turnover to the poster segment. The number of transactions on this market increased by almost a third, with prices of the most expensive posters exceeding the level of PLN 6-9,000.

The auction market also saw activity in banknote trading. The number of transactions increased by more than a third in 2023. Ten banknotes auctioned last year exceeded the PLN 100 000 mark, The most expensive banknote turned out to be a PLN 1 000 Polish zloty from 1794, for which the buyer paid PLN 253 000.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński