The photography included in Christie’s recent First Open online sale didn’t deliver much in the way of excitement. Both top photo lots failed to sell, and with one withdrawal and a Buy-In rate for photography over 40%, it should come as no surprise that the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $118K) came in meaningfully below the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 19 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $185000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $278000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 11 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 8 |
| Buy In % | 42.11% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $118945 |
Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 13 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 9 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 4 |
| Low Buy In % | 30.77% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $71000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $54685 |
| Mid Total Lots | 4 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 2 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 2 |
| Mid Buy In % | 50.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $87000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $64260 |
| Total High Lots | 2 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 0 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 2 |
| High Buy In % | 100.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | $120000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | $0 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was tier between two lots, both estimated at $40000-60000: lot 6, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (The War For Me to Become You), 2008, and lot 8, Wolfgang Tillmans, Last Still Life, New York, 1995; both lots failed to sell. The top photography outcome of the sale was lot 90, Gregory Crewdson, Untitled (house in the road), 2002, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $50400 (image above, via Christie’s.)
90.91% of the 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 90, Gregory Crewdson, Untitled (house in the road), 2002, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $50400
The complete lot by lot results can be found here.
