While there were no photographs available in the Evening portion of the 20th Century & Contemporary Art sales last week in London at Phillips, the Day sale had more on offer for photography collectors. The top lot Cory Arcangel Photoshop abstraction found a buyer (but underneath its estimate range), but with no positive surprises to report, there was little else of note. When the dust settled, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly £495K) fell 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 | 15 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | £532000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | £773000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 12 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 3 |
| Buy In % | 20.00% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | £496470 |
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 | 8 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Mid Buy In % | 11.11% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | £213000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | £205640 |
| Total High Lots | 6 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 4 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 2 |
| High Buy In % | 33.33% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | £560000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | £290830 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 149, Cory Arcangel, Photoshop CS: 84 by 144 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient “Spectrum”, mousedown y=1200 x=20800, mouseup y=24020 x=20800; tool “Wand”, select y=2600 x=20000, tolerance=72, contiguous= off; default gradient “Spectrum”, mousedown y=2480 x=41600, mouseup y=2480 x=1200, 2015, estimated at £150000-200000; it was also the top photography outcome of the sale at £139700 (image above, via Phillips).
Just 58.33% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were no positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).
The complete lot by lot results can be found here (Day).
