While the overall Buy-In rate for photography found its way to over 35% at Phillips’ recent 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening and Day Sales (usually a bad sign), the auctions held on and found their way to the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range. The sale of the top lot Cindy Sherman print helped, as did the continued strength of Gerhard Richter’s photo-based editions.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 37 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $1722000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $2439000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 24 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 13 |
| Buy In % | 35.14% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $1757750 |
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 6 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 5 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Low Buy In % | 16.67% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $41000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $31500 |
| Mid Total Lots | 23 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 14 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 9 |
| Mid Buy In % | 39.13% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $478000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $390000 |
| Total High Lots | 8 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 5 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 3 |
| High Buy In % | 37.50% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | $1920000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | $1336250 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 8, Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still (#36), 1979, estimated at $600000-800000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $701000. (image in preview post)
91.67% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 3 positive surprises in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate): (images above via Phillips)
Lot 196, Masahisa Fukase, Kanazawa (SP-025), 1977, estimated at $12000-18000, sold at $40000 (image in preview post)
Lot 294, Gerhard Richter, Haggadah (P2), 2014, estimated at $10000-12000, sold at $43750
Lot 295, Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (P1), 2014, estimated at $12000-18000, sold at $56250
The complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).
