Auction Results: Contemporary Curated, November 21, 2017 @Sotheby’s London

The results for the photography included in Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated sale in London earlier this week were uneven but ultimately largely to form. One lot sold for just £63, while a nude by Torbjørn Rødland sold for more than 11X its high estimate, so the outcomes were all over the map. In the end, the overall Buy-In rate for photography came in at just over 20%, and with a few positive surprises, the Total Sale Proceeds fell solidly within the pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 48
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £224800
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £321000
Total Lots Sold 38
Total Lots Bought In 10
Buy In % 20.83%
Total Sale Proceeds £248026

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 25
Total Low Lots Sold 20
Total Low Lots Bought In 5
Low Buy In % 20.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots £59000
Total Proceeds from Low Lots £38276
Mid Total Lots 23
Total Mid Lots Sold 18
Total Mid Lots Bought In 5
Mid Buy In % 21.74%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £262000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £209750
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 NA

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 138, Paul McCarthy, Fred Flintstone (from the Propo series), 1992, estimated at £18000-25000 (image in preview post). It was also the top photography outcome of the sale at £22500.

57.89% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 4 positive surprises in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Sotheby’s):

Lot 119, Eileen Quinlan, Smoke & Mirrors #99, 2006, estimated at £1500-2000, sold at £4000

Lot 129, Torbjørn Rødland, Nudist No. 8, 1999, estimated at £500-700, sold at £8125

Lot 144, Malick Sidibé, Regardez-Moi, 1962/2000, estimated at £4000-6000, sold at £15000

Lot 200, Anthony Goicolea, Bed Wetters, 2000, estimated at £1000-1500, sold at £3250

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: Anthony Goicolea, Eileen Quinlan, Malick Sidibé, Torbjørn Rødland, Sotheby's

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