The first photograph of 2010 to cross the $2 million dollar mark was hammered down at Sotheby’s in London last week, when Andreas Gursky’s Pyongyang IV brought home £1329250 (using an exchnage rate of 1.56, it tallies to $2073630 to be exact). It was the largest photo outcome at auction in more than a year. The voluminous proceeds from this lot helped to supercharge the results for the photography in the entire two-part auction, bringing the Total Sale Proceeds in above the pre-sale estimate range.The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 28
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £1810000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £2608000
Total Lots Sold: 22
Total Lots Bought In: 6
Buy In %: 21.43%
Total Sale Proceeds: £2849075
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 1
Low Sold: 1
Low Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total Low Estimate: £4000
Total Low Sold: £5625
Mid Total Lots: 15
Mid Sold: 12
Mid Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 20.00%
Total Mid Estimate: £224000
Total Mid Sold: £201000
High Total Lots: 12
High Sold: 9
High Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 25.00%
Total High Estimate: £2380000
Total High Sold: £2642450
The top lot by High estimate was lot 6, Andreas Gursky, Pyongyang IV, 2007, at £500000-700000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at £1329250. (Image at right, top, via Sotheby’s.)
An efficient 100.00% 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 183, Darren Almond, Full Moon @Sea of Clouds, 2008, at £27500 (image at right, bottom, via Sotheby’s)
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