Contemporary art auctions are significant pawn shops where collectors acquire modern pieces and set trends in the market. The success of a sale depends on the quality of the artwork, artist’s market trajectory and rarity. Smart collectors craft a robust budget strategy to ensure that they are not overpaying. Buyers should take into account buyer’s premium, restoration costs and potential tax implications.

This month, Sotheby’s kicked off New York sales with two auctions focusing on contemporary artists. Sotheby’s The Now sale drew a respectable $267.3 million, well within its presale estimate.

The evening’s biggest success came from a work by American artist Faith Ringgold, who died last month at the age of 93. Her embroidered quilted work Dinner at Gertrude Stein’s: The French Collection Part II, #10 (1991) sold for $1.7 million with fees, easily exceeding its $1 million high estimate.

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Other highlights included a painting by Kent Monkman that references the destructive impact of colonialism and a rare version of Duchamp’s snow shovel (In Advance of the Broken Arm). Monkman, a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation in Treaty 5 territory, is known for paintings that investigate Western art historical stylings and use text.

A Jeff Koons sculpture, Rabbit, fell short of expectations at Sotheby’s. The decadent horned ceramic, which has three other existing copies in the US, including at the Eli Broad Museum and at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, was estimated to fetch $10 million-$15 million. The 91 million-dollar hammer price was only the third time a work by the US artist has sold at auction.