The double shot of Contemporary Curated and Contemporary Discoveries sales at Sotheby’s last week contained a sprinkling of photographic works, which largely performed well. Aside from two high priced pre-sale withdrawals (works by Anselm Kiefer and Deborah Roberts), the overall Buy-In rate for photography across the two sales was a tidy 0.00%, “white glove” as they say, had the sales been only the photo lots. But that strength was softened by more than 56% of the lots that found buyers doing so under their estimate ranges. With only one positive surprise (an Annie Leibovitz portrait of Philip Johnson which sold for a puzzling 11X its high estimate), the Total Sale Proceeds for photography across the two sales (of just over $915K) came in near the high end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 23 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $661300 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $950600 |
| Total Lots Sold | 23 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $918016 |
Here is the breakdown (using our usual Low, Mid, and High price tier definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 12 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 12 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Low Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $54600 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $24320 |
| Mid Total Lots | 6 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 6 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Mid Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $96000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $205056 |
| Total High Lots | 5 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 5 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 0 |
| High Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | $800000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | $688640 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was tied between two lots, each estimated at $250000-350000: lot 243, Richard Prince, Pumpsie Green, 2008, and lot 265, Anselm Kiefer, Der Hängende Mann (The Hanging Man), 1990; the Prince work found a buyer at $345600 and was the top photography outcome of the sales (image above, via Sotheby’s), while the Kiefer work was withdrawn.
Just 43.48% 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) (image above, via Sotheby’s):
Lot 125, Annie Leibovitz, Philip Johnson, Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut, 2000, estimated at $8000-12000, sold at $140800
The complete lot by lot results can be found here (Contemporary Curated) and here (Contemporary Discoveries).
