Sotheby's held a marathon evening sale in New York on Tuesday night, achieving $706 million in total sales—the highest single-evening total in the auction house's history. The standout was the collection of Leonard A. Lauder, which alone brought $527.5 million, led by Gustav Klimt's *Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer* (1914-16) that sold for $236.4 million after a 20-minute bidding war. A second sale of contemporary and ultra-contemporary works added $178.5 million, with Jean-Michel Basquiat's *Crowns (Peso Neto)* (1981) topping that session at $48.3 million. Notably, no lots were withdrawn across both sales, and Asian collectors drove bidding on many high-value lots. Maurizio Cattelan's gold toilet *America* (2016) sold for $12.1 million, drawing only one bid.
The results underscore the market's hunger for fresh, high-quality single-owner collections, as seen with the Lauder trove and the Weis group at Christie's the night before. The 100% sell-through rate for the Lauder collection and the strong performance of the contemporary sale signal a narrowing gap between buyer and seller expectations, a positive sign for the auction market. The return of Asian bidders as major drivers of high-value lots also points to shifting global demand. The evening's success at Sotheby's inaugural sale at the Breuer Building reinforces the venue's viability as a new auction hub.