The top photography lot Andreas Gursky print failed to sell at the string of contemporary art sales at Sotheby’s in London last week, dampening what was otherwise a solid outing. All of the rest of the photographs on offer found buyers, including a Richard Prince cowboy print with flirted with the £1M mark. With just one positive surprise, the tallied numbers across the sales found the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly £1.7M) coming in 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 | 9 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | £2010000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | £2840000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 8 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Buy In % | 11.11% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | £1690460 |
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 | 0 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | NA |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | NA |
| Mid Buy In % | NA |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | £0 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | £0 |
| Total High Lots | 9 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 8 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 1 |
| High Buy In % | 11.11% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | £2840000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | £1690460 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 132, Andreas Gursky, Chicago, Board of Trade III, 1999-2009, estimated at £800000-1200000; it did not sell. The top photography outcome of the sales was lot 140, Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 1998, estimated at £700000-900000, sold at £942500 (image above, via Sotheby’s).
62.50% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there was just 1 positive surprise in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (image above, via Sotheby’s):
Lot 363, Gerhard Richter, Strip (3168), 2011, estimated at £40000-60000, sold at £151200
The complete lot by lot results can be found here (Jubilee), here (Evening), and here (Day).
