The photography lots in the pair of Contemporary Art sales at Sotheby’s in London earlier this week performed right in line with expectations. The overall Buy-In rate was solidly in the mid twenties (24%) and the Total Sale Proceeds fell in the middle of the estimate range.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 25
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £1014000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1407000
Total Lots Sold: 19
Total Lots Bought In: 6
Buy In %: 24.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: £1191975

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 0
Low Sold: NA
Low Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total Low Estimate: £0
Total Low Sold: NA

Mid Total Lots: 16
Mid Sold: 12
Mid Bought In: 4
Buy In %: 25.00%
Total Mid Estimate: £222000
Total Mid Sold: £222575

High Total Lots: 9
High Sold: 7
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 22.22%
Total High Estimate: £1185000
Total High Sold: £969400

The top lot by High estimate was lot 14, Andreas Gursky, Stateville, Illinois, 2002, at £500000-700000; it was also the top outcome of the two sales at £577250.

94.74% 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):

Lot 298, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Baltic Sea, Rugen, 1996, at £36050 (image at right, top, via Sotheby’s)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).

Sotheby’s
34-35 New Bond Street
London W1A 2AA