Many contemporary paintings sold at speculative prices have reappeared on the New York market on May 13th 1999 in a sale held by Christie's. Jasper Johns's Two Flags, a painting produced in 1973, which reached US $ 11 million at Sotheby's in 1989, went for US $ 7,1 million, its lowest estimate.
Johns remains the most expensive contemporary artist, his painting False Start having been sold for US $ 17 million by Sotheby's in 1988.
The sale of some 23 paintings and sculptures of the Maurice and Margo Cohen collection, realised US $ 22,1 million with all lots sold.
Miro's L'Espoir fetched US $ 4,5 million, Calder's Red Post, black leaves mobile went for US $ 937,000 while another mobile sculpture by this artist, Hanging Apricot, sold for US $ 992,500.
Dubuffet's Vase de barbe fetched US $ 1,2 million but the result for Fernand Léger's Trois femmes au bouquet of 1922 was disappointing since Christie's only registered a telephone bid of US $ 4,4 million against a US $ 5-7 million estimate.
Matisse's Roses Safrano painted in Nice in 1926 went for US $ 5,5 million while Henry Moore's monumental Reclining Figure sculpture reached a record price of US $ 4 million, US $ 1 million above the high pre-sale estimate.
The only hitch of that evening sale was the withdrawal of Moore's La femme de Venise IX, which carried an estimate of US $ 2 to 3 million following some doubts regarding its authenticity. It had been bought by the Cohens in 1981 and had nevertheless a good pedigree.
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