A handful of positive surprises helped amplify the results of the photography included in Christie’s recent First Open online sale. Both of the top photo lots found buyers, with the Orozco work jumping up to more than 4X its high estimate. With the addition of a low overall Buy-In rate for photography (under 6%), the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $770K) came in well above the high end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 34 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $299000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $452000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 32 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 2 |
| Buy In % | 5.88% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $767970 |
Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 19 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 18 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Low Buy In % | 5.26% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $119000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $98910 |
| Mid Total Lots | 15 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 14 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Mid Buy In % | 6.67% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $333000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $669060 |
| 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 tied between two lots, each estimated at $30000-50000: lot 8, Vik Muniz, Metachrome, (Cut-outs, after Henri Matisse), 2017, and lot 14, Gabriel Orozco, Atomist: Crews Battle, 1996. The Orozco work was the top photography outcome of the sale at $201600 (image above, via Christie’s), while the Muniz work found a buyer at $37800.
81.25% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were 6 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Christie’s):
Lot 14, Gabriel Orozco, Atomist: Crews Battle, 1996, estimated at $30000-50000, sold at $201600
Lot 63, Arnulf Rainer, Mein Hund hat 12 Ecken, c1970, estimated at $8000-12000, sold at $44100
Lot 73, Jim Hodges, And Then I Looked Up, 2001, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $107100
Lot 108, Guyton/Walker, Untitled (from the series: Dear Ketel One Drinker Hello Again. The Failever Of Judgement Part IV), 2005, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $32760
Lot 121, Olafur Eliasson, The broken stone series, 1997, estimated at $12000-18000, sold at $75600
Lot 132, Luigi Ontani, EvAdamo d’aprés Cranach (EvAdamo after Cranach), 1975, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $52920
The complete lot by lot results can be found here.
