While there were no photography lots included in any of the evening sales at Christie’s in London last week (20th/21st Century: Shanghai Evening, 20th/21st Century: London Evening, and The Art of the Surreal Evening), the photo works on offer in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale performed quite well. The top lot Andreas Gursky image found a buyer within its range, and a recent Anne Collier print more than quadrupled its high estimate. With just a few passed photo lots, the Total Sales Proceeds for photography (of roughly £530K) came in just above the top end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 15 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | £374000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | £529000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 12 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 3 |
| Buy In % | 20.00% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | £535500 |
Here is the breakdown (using our usual Low, Mid, and High price tier definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 0 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | NA |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | NA |
| Low Buy In % | NA |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | £0 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | £0 |
| Mid Total Lots | 9 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 7 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 2 |
| Mid Buy In % | 22.22% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | £154000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | £229320 |
| Total High Lots | 6 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 5 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 1 |
| High Buy In % | 16.67% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | £375000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | £306180 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 240, Andreas Gursky, Copan, 2002, estimated at £150000-200000; it was also the top photography outcome of the sales at £189000 (image above, via Christie’s).
100.00% of the photo lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there was just 1 positive surprise in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (image above, via Christie’s):
Lot 306, Anne Collier, Woman Crying (Comic) #16, 2019, estimated at £18000-25000, sold at £100800
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
