Seeing How High Five Calders Will Fly

Alexander Calder's 'Blue Flower, Red Flower,' from 1975, is priced to sell for at least $1 million.

Let's call it the leapfrog effect: When the market for an artist seems poised to take off, auction houses will often pack one of their sales with a large group of that artist's signature works. The bet is that collectors, swept up by the theatrical momentum, will compete harder for each work and possibly pay a record sum.

Sotheby's pulled off this feat last fall in New York when it offered up eight abstract paintings by Gerhard Richter in its major contemporary sale; all sold for well over their asking prices, including a purple "Abstract Painting" that went to collector Lily Safra for a record $20.8 million. Christie's did the same in February for Henry Moore, selling five works by the sculptor, including a record-setting $30.1 million bronze, "Reclining Figure: Festival."

The artist Alexander Calder in 1970.

Next in line could be Alexander Calder, the Pennsylvania-born sculptor known for turning wire and colorful metal plates into trembling mobiles (he died in 1976). During the recession, Calder's prices ticked upward as collectors sought pieces that were easy to identify and resell in the global marketplace, some trading privately for as much as $35 million apiece, dealers said. Even so, Calder's works look cheap compared with those of peers like Alberto Giacometti, whose bronzes have topped $100 million.

On May 8, Christie's in New York plans to test the upper reaches of Calder's auction market by offering a group of five Calder sculptures, including a standing mobile, "Lily of Force," that carries an $8 million to $12 million price tag—well over Calder's current auction record of $6.3 million.

Christie's specialist Brett Gorvy says that the price for "Lily" reflects the work's size and historical stature. The 1945 sculpture is roughly 8 feet tall and evokes an unruly lily pad, with spindly wires and leaf-shaped plates sprouting from a flat, black plate near the floor. Dada master Marcel Duchamp encouraged Calder to exhibit the work at Paris's Galerie Louis Carré in 1946, a show that famously reintroduced the American sculptor to postwar European audiences eager for art that felt optimistic.

Sandy Rower, Calder's grandson, said "Lily" was one of the first sculptures the artist designed so that it could be divided into small pieces for easier shipping. Mr. Rower added that it has been "at least a decade" since he's seen a Calder of similar significance come up at auction.

Collectors have always paid a premium for standing and hanging Calder mobiles from the 1940s and '50s, particularly those with dozens of dangling parts that shiver like leaves or fish at the slightest breeze. Red remains his most coveted color, but hues like white are also popular. Christie's is asking at least $3.5 million for "Snow Flurry," a 1950 white mobile that comes from the estate of Eliot Noyes, the Harvard Five architect who, with Philip Johnson, championed the no-frills architectural movement known as the International Style. The Noyes estate is also offering an untitled red mobile with scaly shapes that is priced to sell for at least $3 million.

Christie's wants at least $4 million for "The Red of Saché," a 1954 hanging mobile. "Blue Flower, Red Flower," a 1975 multicolored mobile, is priced to sell for at least $1 million.

Rival Sotheby's has four Calders on its auction agenda, including "Sumac VI," a red mobile from 1952 that is priced to sell May 9 for $2.5 million or more.