The top photography lot (a work by Richard Prince) was withdrawn from the recent Contemporary Discoveries online sale at Sotheby’s last week, which served to trim the potential results before things even got started. A Vik Muniz print stepped into the top spot, and found a buyer within its estimate range, but with an overall Buy-In rate for photography at 40%, there were just too many passes to generate much momentum. A Liz Deschenes work jumped up to more than 5X its high estimate, but the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $165K) fell well below 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 | 25 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $216800 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $327700 |
| Total Lots Sold | 15 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 10 |
| Buy In % | 40.00% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $165438 |
Here is the breakdown (using our usual Low, Mid, and High price tier definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 14 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 10 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 4 |
| Low Buy In % | 28.57% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $65700 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $62118 |
| Mid Total Lots | 11 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 5 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 6 |
| Mid Buy In % | 54.55% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $262000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $103320 |
| 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 photography lot by High estimate was lot 466, Richard Prince, Untitled (Portrait), 2015, estimated at $50000-70000; it was withdrawn. The top photography outcome in the sale was lot 593, Vik Muniz, Selva a partir de Johann Moritz Rugendas (Jungle, after J.M. Rugendas) (from Dinheiro Vivo), 2022, estimated at $30000-50000, sold at $40320 (image above, via Sotheby’s.)
86.67% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there was just one positive surprise in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (image above, via Sothebys):
Lot 521, Liz Deschenes, Untitled (Etienne-Jules Marey #9), 2017, estimated at $3000-4000, sold at $22680
The complete lot by lot results can be found here.
