Auction Results: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, October 17 and 18, 2013 @Sotheby’s London

While the massive Gursky Paris, Montparnasse did find a buyer, that sale was pretty much the only photographic highlight worth noting in Sotheby’s pair of Contemporary Art auctions last week in London. 13 of the top 18 photo lots failed to sell and the overall Buy-In rate for photography reached 50%, so it’s no wonder the Total Sale Proceeds for photography missed the low end of the estimate range by a wide margin.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 42
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £3034500
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £4367500
Total Lots Sold 21
Total Lots Bought In 21
Buy In % 50.00%
Total Sale Proceeds £2116375

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 2
Total Low Lots Sold 2
Total Low Lots Bought In 0
Low Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots £8500
Total Proceeds from Low Lots £4750
Mid Total Lots 26
Total Mid Lots Sold 14
Total Mid Lots Bought In 12
Mid Buy In % 46.15%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £399000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £209375
Total High Lots 14
Total High Lots Sold 5
Total High Lots Bought In 9
High Buy In % 64.29%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots £3960000
Total Proceeds from High Lots £1902250

The top lot by High estimate was lot 7, Andreas Gursky, Paris, Montparnasse, 1993, estimated at £1000000-1500000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at £1482500.

While 90.48% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range, there was only 1 surprise in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 130, Robin Rhode, Juggla, estimated at £10000-15000, sold at £35000 (image above, via Sotheby’s)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here and here.

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