Following up on its First Open sale in New York earlier in the week, Christie’s kicked off its Fall season in London with a matching First Open sale yesterday. Sadly, the results for photography were meaningfully weaker, especially in the mid range. Overall, the Buy-In rate hit a discouraging 40% and the Total Sale Proceeds for photography missed the low end of the pre sale estimate range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 35 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | £167400 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | £247600 |
| Total Lots Sold | 21 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 14 |
| Buy In % | 40.00% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | £156438 |
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 18 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 13 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 5 |
| Low Buy In % | 27.78% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | £55600 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | £50813 |
| Mid Total Lots | 15 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 6 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 9 |
| Mid Buy In % | 60.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | £132000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | £54375 |
| Total High Lots | 2 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 2 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 0 |
| High Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | £60000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | £51250 |
The top lot by High estimate was tied between two lots: lot 29, Gerhard Richter, MV.52, 2011, and lot 102, Barbara Kruger, Face It (Magenta), 2007, both estimated at £20000-300000; the Richter was the top photography outcome of the sale at £27500 (image above, right, via Christie’s), while the Kruger sold at £23750.
100.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range, and there were 2 surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 91, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Untitled (Group IV), 2005, estimated at £3000-4000, sold at £8750 (image above, middle, via Christie’s)
Lot 193, Lottie Davies, Home: My Mother Was Born in a Bucket, 2014, estimated at £800-1200, sold at £5625 (image above, left, via Christie’s)
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
