Wall Street’s "lore from the floor" suggests that if stocks do well in January, they’ll perform nicely for the rest of the year -- a theory that has been right 92.5 percent of the time, according to snopes.com. Does the "January barometer" apply to the art market as well? The art world hopes so -- January 2006 was a great month for art and antiques auctions in New York. Some highlights (prices given here include the auction-house commission of 20 percent of the first $200,000 of the hammer price and 12 percent of the rest):
