It was a thoroughly dismal outing for the photography buried in Sotheby’s recent Contemporary Curated sale. With a Buy-In rate for photography at a whopping 60% and very few positive surprises, it’s no shock that the Total Sale Proceeds missed the low end of the pre-sale range by plenty.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 30 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $288000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $410000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 12 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 18 |
| Buy In % | 60.00% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $149375 |
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 10 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 6 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 4 |
| Low Buy In % | 40.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $72000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $73750 |
| Mid Total Lots | 20 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 6 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 14 |
| Mid Buy In % | 70.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $338000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $75625 |
| 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 photographic lot by High estimate was tied between two lots: lot 330, Shi Guorui, Bird’s Nest Stadium, 2008, estimated at $15000-25000 (image above, via Sotheby’s) and lot 328, Thomas Struth, An der Thur, Winterthur, 1993, estimated at $20000-25000; neither lot sold. The top outcome of the sale was lot 251, Richard Prince, Untitled (Publicity), 1985, estimated at $6000-8000, sold at $37500 (image above, via Sotheby’s).
66.67% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 2 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Sotheby’s):
Lot 251, Richard Prince, Untitled (Publicity), 1985, estimated at $6000-8000, sold at $37500
Lot 332, Shirin Neshat, Untitled, 1996, estimated at $7000-10000, sold at $23750
The complete lot by lot results can be found here.
