Auction Results: Contemporary Curated, March 5, 2015 @Sotheby’s

Aided by a Barbara Kruger photo on vinyl that soared more than $200K over its estimate, Sotheby’s’ thin Armory Week photography offerings easily worked their way into the pre-sale estimate range. While there were more lots than usual that sold below their estimates and few positive surprises, the Total Sale Proceeds still came in near $1 million.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 22
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate $710800
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate $1085200
Total Lots Sold 17
Total Lots Bought In 5
Buy In % 22.73%
Total Sale Proceeds $980250

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 1
Total Low Lots Sold 1
Total Low Lots Bought In 0
Low Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots $1200
Total Proceeds from Low Lots $750
Mid Total Lots 17
Total Mid Lots Sold 13
Total Mid Lots Bought In 4
Mid Buy In % 23.53%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots $464000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots $311875
Total High Lots 4
Total High Lots Sold 3
Total High Lots Bought In 1
High Buy In % 25.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots $620000
Total Proceeds from High Lots $667625

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 275, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Our Prices Are Insane!), 1987, estimated at $200000-300000; it was also the top photography outcome of the sale at $502000.

70.59% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there was only 1 positive surprise in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 226, Richard Prince, Upstate, 1995-1999, estimated at $18000-25000, sold at $50000 (image above, left, via Sotheby’s)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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