The Damien HIRST sale at Sotheby’s on 15 and 16 September last was a brilliant and unprecedented event in the history of public auctions. Two days of frenzied bidding for 218 of Hirst's new works generated no less than GBP 111.4 million and a new artist's record when his Golden Calf fetched £ 9.2 million, thereby literally becoming the "worshipped icon" (golden calf) of the art adored by wealthy and fashionable collectors.

With hindsight, the autumn of 2008 – which saw a string of highly successful auction sales around the world culminating in the Hirst-Sotheby's sale – clearly appears to have been the peak of a now deflated speculative bubble. Indeed after the high media profile Hirst sale, the market changed direction… literally the following day. For example, if we focus on the top end of the art market (all works, all periods) we see that during 2007 and 2008 (before mid-September) 80% of the works offered at auctions with estimates over 1 million euros found buyers. However on 17 September 2008, i.e. the day after the famous Damien HIRST sale, only 55% of the works offered in this price range were sold. Moreover, for those that did sell, it is clear that buyers were determined not to overpay their acquisitions since before that date, 35% of the lots offered (all works, all periods) sold above their low estimate whereas after 16 September, this ratio fell back to 24% (ratio recorded at mid-December 2008).

The Hirst sale will therefore go down in history not just for having successfully used Sotheby's as a primary market outlet but also as the turning point for the market as a whole. But this has not given Damien HIRST any special protection: his bought-in rate rose from 11% to 55% between September and December 2008.