Auction Results: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Sales, October 15 and 16, 2014 @Phillips London

When four out of the top five lots fail to sell and there are no positive surprises to pick up the slack, Total Sale Proceeds for any auction can take a dive pretty quickly. This was the unfortunate outcome of Phillips’ Contemporary Art sales in London earlier this week. With an overall Buy-In rate for photography at 40% and those discouraging passes of the high end lots, the Total Sales Proceeds for photography missed the low end of the pre sale range by a meaningful margin, bringing in a grand total of just under £400K.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 30
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £574000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £811000
Total Lots Sold 18
Total Lots Bought In 12
Buy In % 40.00%
Total Sale Proceeds £370000

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 NA
Mid Total Lots 21
Total Mid Lots Sold 15
Total Mid Lots Bought In 6
Mid Buy In % 28.57%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £351000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £273750
Total High Lots 9
Total High Lots Sold 3
Total High Lots Bought In 6
High Buy In % 66.67%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots £460000
Total Proceeds from High Lots £96250

The top lot by High estimate was tied between two lots: lot 154, John Baldessari, Prima Facie (Fifth State): Gentle Butterfly/Grassy Fields, 2006, and lot 206, Andreas Gursky, Untitled XII (No. 4), 2000, both estimated at £60000-80000; neither work sold. The top outcome of the sale was lot 203, Richard Prince, Untitled (Publicity), 2000, estimated at $18000-22000; it sold at £43750 (image above, via Phillips).

88.89% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were no surprises in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).

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

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Read more about: Richard Prince, Phillips ~ 450 Park

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