Auction Results: A Wonderful Life: Photographs from the Peter Fetterman Collection, December 17, 2019 @Bonhams

The last photography auction of the year occurred at Bonhams in New York earlier this week, bringing prints from the collection of photography dealer Peter Fetterman to a holiday-shopping audience. With plenty of distractions this time of year, the results were predictably soft, with an overall Buy-In rate nearing 50%. With just two low priced surprises to pick up the slack, the Total Sale Proceeds came in at less than $350K, well 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 124
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate $564000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate $833000
Total Lots Sold 64
Total Lots Bought In 60
Buy In % 48.39%
Total Sale Proceeds $340848

Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions):

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 116
Total Low Lots Sold 61
Total Low Lots Bought In 55
Low Buy In % 47.41%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots $639000
Total Proceeds from Low Lots $305623
Mid Total Lots 7
Total Mid Lots Sold 3
Total Mid Lots Bought In 4
Mid Buy In % 57.14%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots $134000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots $35225
Total High Lots 1
Total High Lots Sold 0
Total High Lots Bought In 1
High Buy In % 100.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots $60000
Total Proceeds from High Lots $0

The top lot by High estimate was lot 58 Irving Penn, Guedras in the Wind, Morocco, 1971, estimated at $40000-60000; it did not sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 107, Edward Curtis, Canyon de Chelly, 1904, estimated at $6000-8000, sold at $13825 (image above, via Bonhams).

96.88% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 2 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Bonhams):

Lot 14, Thurston Hopkins, La Dolce Vita, Knightsbidge, London, 1953/later, estimated at $2000-3000, sold at $6325

Lot 27, Pentti Sammallahti, Koylio, Finland, 1973, estimated at $1000-1500, sold at $3187

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: Edward Curtis, Pentti Sammallahti, Thurston Hopkins, Bonhams

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