Auction Results: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, March 8 and 9, 2017 @Sotheby’s London

A Wolfgang Tillmans abstraction soared to a major price and the top lot early Gilbert & George found a buyer over the £1 million mark, and these two events helped catalyze a solid outing for the photography in Sotheby’s recent Contemporary Art sales in London. With an overall Buy-In rate for photography just over 10% and all of the lots in the top price tier selling in or above their estimates, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography were robust, coming in near the top of the pre-sale range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 18
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £1662000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £2414000
Total Lots Sold 16
Total Lots Bought In 2
Buy In % 11.11%
Total Sale Proceeds £2391625

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 £0
Mid Total Lots 11
Total Mid Lots Sold 9
Total Mid Lots Bought In 2
Mid Buy In % 18.18%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £159000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £205625
Total High Lots 7
Total High Lots Sold 7
Total High Lots Bought In 0
High Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots £2255000
Total Proceeds from High Lots £2186000

The top photography lot by High estimate is lot 15, Gilbert and George, Shag Stiff, 1977, estimated at £1000000-1500000; it was also the top photographic outcome of the sales at £1148750 (image in preview post).

100.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 3 positive surprises in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Sotheby’s):

Lot 2, Wolfgang Tillmans, Freischwimmer 119, 2005, estimated at £80000-120000, sold at £464750

Lot 281, Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (P1), 2014, estimated at £400-6000, sold at £32500

Lot 282, Gerhard Richter, Haggadah (P2), 2014, estimated at £4000-6000, sold at £32500

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

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Read more about: Gerhard Richter, Wolfgang Tillmans, Sotheby's

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