After years of quietly testing the waters and assessing market demand, prestigious auction house Christie’s has officially decided that the booming pop culture landscape is ready for the big leagues.
The storied institution confirmed on Wednesday that it is launching a dedicated pop culture division. This new global operation is designed to hold multiple auctions each year spanning an expansive array of categories, including film and television, music and musical instruments, sports memorabilia, science and technology, natural history, fashion, and popular design. To helm this ambitious venture, Josh Benesh—a former Heritage Auctions executive who initially joined Christie’s as a consultant earlier this year—has been appointed as the division’s global head, operating out of New York.
The strategic move arrives after Christie’s spent several years rigorously testing the appetite for the category. Most recently, this exploratory phase culminated in the blockbuster sale of the sprawling collection belonging to late Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. Across five separate auctions this year, Christie’s successfully sold 404 lots from Irsay’s massive trove of music, sports, and historical memorabilia. The series of sales brought in a staggering $105.3 million, which the auction house noted was the largest total ever achieved for a single memorabilia collection at auction.
"We’ve been testing this market," Christie’s chief executive Bonnie Brennan said Wednesday during a conversation with Puck’s Marion Maneker at the Art of Influence conference in New York. The event, jointly hosted by Puck and the Flag Art Foundation, provided the backdrop for Brennan’s official announcement of the new division. "We feel that right now is at a point of maturity that makes sense for us to really commit."
Christie’s is certainly no stranger to handling celebrity collections and high-profile memorabilia. Over its 260-year history, the house has managed the high-profile consignments of cultural icons such as Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Elton John, George Michael, Mark Knopfler, and David Gilmour. What makes this announcement a true departure for the institution, however, is the decision to unify that disparate business under a permanent, dedicated global department—a structural step that several of Christie’s primary competitors have already taken.
Sotheby’s, for instance, established a dedicated Science & Popular Culture department as early as 2021 under Cassandra Hatton, who had previously spearheaded auctions devoted to space exploration, science and technology, natural history, and hip-hop after joining the firm in 2016. Last year, art adviser Ralph De Luca briefly joined Sotheby’s as vice chairman of pop culture, though his tenure proved short-lived as he quietly parted ways with the auction house after a year.
Other major players have similarly anchored themselves in the sector. Bonhams has operated dedicated entertainment memorabilia sales for years; when it appointed Helen Hall as director of entertainment memorabilia in 2021, the house positioned itself as the only global auction house holding regular sales dedicated entirely to the category. Meanwhile, Freeman’s operates a specialized collectibles department that encompasses pop culture memorabilia, comic books, video games, and toys.
Then there is Heritage Auctions, which has constructed an enormous commercial enterprise around collectibles spanning comic books, sports memorabilia, movie props, and vintage music gear. It was precisely within this ecosystem that Benesh spent five years serving as chief strategy officer and general counsel before transitioning to Christie’s.
Despite the crowded landscape, Brennan made it clear during the panel discussion that Christie’s is not interested in competing purely for sheer sales volume or a high count of lower-value lots. "We don’t want to be the biggest," she stated. Instead, the international auction house intends to concentrate its efforts on objects possessing exceptional provenance and profound cultural significance—items that can truly benefit from the sophisticated storytelling machinery the house typically reserves for fine art and major single-owner masterpieces.
To that end, the Irsay collection offered an almost ideal test case for the strategy. Irsay, who passed away last year, had spent decades meticulously amassing a museum-quality collection that ranged from rare presidential documents and Jack Kerouac’s original typed manuscript for On the Road to some of the most famous, historically significant electric guitars in rock and roll history. The first four auctions held in March brought in $94.5 million, achieving a rare 100 percent sell-through rate by lot and establishing 28 individual auction records. A final, concluding sale in July ultimately pushed the collection’s cumulative total past the $105 million threshold.
The extraordinary offerings within the Irsay sale included Pink Floyd lead guitarist David Gilmour’s legendary "Black Strat," which sold for $14.5 million to become the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction. It also featured Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia’s custom-inlaid guitar "Tiger" and the Fender Mustang famously played by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain in the iconic music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Josh Benesh, the newly minted head of the pop culture division, noted in an email to ARTnews that the Irsay sale served as "a compelling proof of concept," though he added that institutional discussions regarding the creation of a dedicated pop culture business had begun well before the massive collection was secured.
For Brennan, the true importance of the Irsay sale extended far beyond the headline-grabbing financial totals. "I sat in the Jim Irsay sale room, and that was an experience like I’ve ever seen," she recalled. She described watching buyers "backslapping each other" and embracing warmly after successfully winning competitive lots. "There was no better example of auction creating community than that."
Christie’s had previously encountered glimpses of this intensely passionate audience. On stage at the conference, Brennan reflected on the landmark 2019 sale of David Gilmour’s personal guitar collection, during which the overwhelming surge of online bidders completely overwhelmed the auction house’s technical infrastructure, forcing a temporary delay of the sale. "There’s real demand there, and we have to meet it," Brennan said.
That palpable demand aligns directly with a broader institutional push at Christie’s to leverage auctions as a gateway for collectors who might not initially view themselves as traditional fine art buyers. Earlier in Tuesday’s conversation, Brennan described the imperative of bringing younger, dynamic demographics and first-time clients into the secondary market as an existential priority for the centuries-old auction house.
"If we don’t invite people in, if we don’t make the next generation feel like Christie’s is a place for them, we die," she warned.
High-end luxury items have already proven exceptionally effective in this regard, with categories like watches, jewelry, handbags, and fine wine providing a welcoming, accessible entry point into an institutional environment that can occasionally feel intimidating to novices. Brennan noted that approximately 75 percent of all bids in Christie’s luxury auctions now originate through the company’s digital online bidding tools.
Pop culture represents yet another powerful avenue for entry, featuring tangible objects whose historical and cultural significance often requires little introduction or specialized art-historical education for a prospective buyer. Ultimately, the broader institutional objective is to cultivate multi-category collecting habits, guiding enthusiasts fluidly across traditional boundaries.
"Collectors rarely stick to one category," Benesh said. "We see tremendous conversion, but that works both ways. Our art clients are just as enthusiastic about these opportunities."
