There was only a sprinkling of photography included in the Contemporary Day auction at Sotheby’s in London last week, and the results were uneven. The top photo lot Hiroshi Sugimoto seascape print passed, and with a little softness in the sell through (the overall Buy-In rate for photography topped 45%), the numbers just couldn’t recover. Several Wolfgang Tillmans works held the line, but in the end, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly £240K) fell well underneath the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 11 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | £445000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | £672000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 6 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 5 |
| Buy In % | 45.45% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | £242560 |
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 | 5 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 3 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 2 |
| Mid Buy In % | 40.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | £82000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | £76160 |
| Total High Lots | 6 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 3 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 3 |
| High Buy In % | 50.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | £590000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | £166400 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 307, Hiroshi Sugimoto, North Pacific Ocean, Ohkurosaki, 2002, estimated at £200000-300000; it did not sell. The top photography outcome of the sales was lot 369, Wolfgang Tillmans, Die Wand (13 prints), estimated at £50000-70000, sold at £79360 (image above, via Sotheby’s).
83.33% 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 379, Wolfgang Tillmans, paper drop (star), 2006, estimated at £10000-150000, sold at £44800
The complete lot by lot results can be found here.
