Auction Results: Contemporary Art (online), March 18, 2021 @Sotheby’s

The photographs included in Sotheby’s recent Contemporary Art online sale were an eclectic grab bag of offerings, which, when the dust settled, performed generally to expectations. A Gilbert & George work from the London Pictures series took the top photo lot honors, but there were no positive surprises to generate further excitement. The overall Buy-In rate for photography was respectable (just over 10%), leading to Total Sale Proceeds for photography of just over $300K, squarely in the middle of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 18
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate $254800
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate $370200
Total Lots Sold 16
Total Lots Bought In 2
Buy In % 11.11%
Total Sale Proceeds $303660

Here is the breakdown (using our usual Low, Mid, and High price tier definitions):

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 9
Total Low Lots Sold 8
Total Low Lots Bought In 1
Low Buy In % 11.11
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots $54200
Total Proceeds from Low Lots $41580
Mid Total Lots 9
Total Mid Lots Sold 8
Total Mid Lots Bought In 1
Mid Buy In % 11.11%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots $316000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots $262080
Total High Lots 0
Total High Lots Sold NA
Total High Lots Bought In NA
High Buy In % NA
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots $0
Total Proceeds from High Lots $0

The top photography lot by High estimate was tied between two lots, each estimated at $30000-50000: lot 482, Gilbert & George, Banker, 2011, and lot 624, Vik Muniz, Incêndio No Norms, A Partir de Ed Ruscha [Norms On Fire (After Ruscha)], 2008. The Gilbert & George work was the top photography outcome of the sale at $60480, while the Muniz print did not sell.

75.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were no positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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