Auction Results: Contemporary Curated, September 30, 2022 @Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s had the most photography on offer of the three major auction houses this past week, and its results were the strongest by a decently wide margin. The photographs in the Contemporary Curated sale were led by a 1980 multi-image work by Richard Prince and a Wolfgang Tillmans abstraction from 2003, but both were ultimately topped by a late 1980s work by Barbara Kruger. With nearly all of the photo lots finding buyers (there was just one passed photo lot), the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $1.1M) came in above the top end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 13
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate $775000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate $1090000
Total Lots Sold 12
Total Lots Bought In 1
Buy In % 7.69%
Total Sale Proceeds $1179990

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 0
Total Low Lots Sold NA
Total Low Lots Bought In NA
Low Buy In % NA
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots $0
Total Proceeds from Low Lots $0
Mid Total Lots 7
Total Mid Lots Sold 7
Total Mid Lots Bought In 0
Mid Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots $190000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots $222390
Total High Lots 6
Total High Lots Sold 5
Total High Lots Bought In 1
High Buy In % 16.67%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots $900000
Total Proceeds from High Lots $957600

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 79, Richard Prince, Untitled (Four Women with Their Backs to the Camera), 1980, estimated at $180000-250000; it sold at $226800. The top photography outcome in the sale was lot 1, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Speak for Yourself), 1988, estimated at $80000-120000, sold at $315000 (image above, via Sotheby’s.)

100.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there was just 1 positive surprise in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 1, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Speak for Yourself), 1988, estimated at $80000-120000, sold at $315000

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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