Compared with last September, auction houses offered 16.5% fewer works and sold almost 14% fewer, yet turnover rose from CZK 33.3 million to CZK 36.3 million. The difference lies in the average price per item, which climbed from last year's CZK 12,048 to CZK 15,199, while the median actually doubled. The market thus offered fewer items, but considerably more expensive ones. At the same time, the sell-through rate of almost 52% was the highest of the whole of 2026; in the thirteen-month series, only last November matched it.

The mid-price band leads

Unlike previous months, whose turnover often rested on one successful auction and a handful of the most expensive works sold, September was all about the golden mean. The fifty most expensive works generated a mere 31% of the monthly turnover, and the ten most expensive items brought in only 10%.

For comparison, take May and March of this year, when a single auction accounted for 83% and 64% of the monthly turnover respectively. In September, the strongest auction did not exceed a fifth of it, and even the three strongest combined did not reach half.

That is because 70% of the turnover was generated by works in the price range from twenty-five thousand to one million crowns. A third more works sold for over one hundred thousand crowns than last September, and yet the market remained accessible: half of the works did not climb above five thousand crowns.

The Old Masters ruled

The strongest auction of the month was the Autumn Auction of Old Masters and Works of Art at FINE ANTIQUES PRAGUE, where 66% of all works offered were sold and the turnover exceeded 19.5% of the whole month. Seventeen of September's fifty most expensive items come from there, including the record holder: Ukřižování s Pannou Marií, svatým Janem, svatou Máří Magdalénou a anděly (Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary, St John, St Mary Magdalene and Angels), an oil on wood by an unknown author, for CZK 450,000. For the third month running, the most expensive work did not climb above the one-million mark, which is quite a difference compared with the spring, when the most expensive item of the month cost over CZK 20 million. But the autumn season is only just beginning.

The Old Masters auction was not, however, the only notable event of the month. The Evening Auction of Galerie Goltzova tvrz sold the second and third most expensive works of the month: Dívka s vlaštovkou (Girl with a Swallow) by Vlastimil Hofman for CZK 396,800 and Žlutá ulice (Yellow Street) by Ivan Sedliský for CZK 372,000. Last but not least, let us not forget the fine art auction of Galerie Pictura, which boasted, for example, Abstraktní kompozice (Abstract Composition) by František Foltýn and Krajina s řekou (Landscape with a River) by Antonín Chittussi (both works sold for CZK 359,600).

Zoubek and Číla, down to the last piece

The Author Rankings in September were dominated by Otakar Číla with a turnover of more than CZK 651 thousand: of his eight works offered, only one went unsold. Right behind him came Olbram Zoubek with a turnover of almost CZK 627 thousand and a one-hundred-per-cent sell-through rate. All ten works offered found an owner, among them the tin Vladimír for CZK 262,300 and the relief Odysseus a Télemachos (Odysseus and Telemachus) for CZK 192,200. It is precisely this combination of high turnover and a very successful sell-through rate that may be the strongest signal for collectors: the demand is not for a particular piece, but for the author's name as a whole.

Contemporary artists were not idle in the September rankings either. The painter Antonín Střížek worked his way into the top ten: his painting Tři dívky (Three Girls) sold for CZK 146,400, surpassing the author's previous record from 2022 by a full third.

As a point of interest, let us also mention the estate offering of František Emler, from which 201 works out of 256 were sold. A single author thus accounted for over 8% of all the month's sales.

Applied art hot on the heels of painting

As in most previous months, in September it was above all classic oil paintings that held the top of the turnover. Strikingly strong in September, however, was also the interest in historical pieces of applied art, which took three of the eight highest places among the author records. A pair of functionalist H-221 armchairs by Jindřich Halabala sold for CZK 243,750, a set of silver cutlery by František Bibus for CZK 210,800 and a ceramic plate by Ignác Bizmayer for a fine CZK 167,400. Applied art and design have reached this high in the records table only once in the past thirteen months, in March this year.

September thus showed a fairly healthy face of the art auction market: a high sell-through rate, a rising average and median price per item, and a strong band above one hundred thousand crowns. All it lacks is a ceiling in the form of a work sold above the one-million-crown mark, which has not appeared for the third month in a row. We shall see how the rest of the autumn season shakes up this trend.