The photography results from Sotheby’s Contemporary Art auctions in London last week were generally lackluster, dragged down by a few too many passes on the higher priced photographs. With an overall Buy-In rate for photography across the two sales of nearly 30% and almost no meaningful positive surprises, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography came in under the low end of the range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 34 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | £1293000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | £1901000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 24 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 10 |
| Buy In % | 29.41% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | £1224600 |
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):
| 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 | NA |
| Mid Total Lots | 21 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 17 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 4 |
| Mid Buy In % | 19.05% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | £321000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | £283450 |
| Total High Lots | 13 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 7 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 6 |
| High Buy In % | 46.15% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | £1580000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | £941150 |
The top lot by High estimate was lot 37, Andreas Gursky, Singapore Börse, 1997, at £350000-550000; it was also the top outcome of the two sales £421250.
95.83% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There was only one surprise in these sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate), coming on one of the lowest estimated lots:
Lot 361, David LaChapelle, Andy Warhol: Last Sitting, 1986 and Jeff Koons: Sandwich, 2001, together estimated at £5000-7000, selling for £15000 (image at right, top, via Sotheby’s)
Complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).
