Auction Results: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, November 14 and 15, 2018 @Sotheby’s

The photographs buried in Sotheby’s recent Contemporary Art auctions in New York performed admirably. Led by a Richard Prince cowboy finding a buyer at just under $1.7M, and supported by a photography Buy-In rate of under 6% (only one photo lot went unsold), the Total Sale Proceeds for photography came in near the top end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 17
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate $3450000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate $4915000
Total Lots Sold 16
Total Lots Bought In 1
Buy In % 5.88%
Total Sale Proceeds $4661500

Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High 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 4
Total Mid Lots Sold 4
Total Mid Lots Bought In 0
Mid Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots $105000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots $118750
Total High Lots 13
Total High Lots Sold 12
Total High Lots Bought In 1
High Buy In % 7.69%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots $4810000
Total Proceeds from High Lots $4542750

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 47, Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2013, estimated at $1200000-1800000. It was also the top photography outcome of the sales at $1695000 (image above, via Sotheby’s).

93.75% 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) (images above via Sotheby’s):

Lot 512, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Ligurian Sea, Savoire, 1993, estimated at $120000-180000, sold at $435000

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

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Read more about: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Richard Prince, Sotheby's

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