Auction Results: First Open | Post-War & Contemporary Art (online) and Image World: Contemporary Art from a Private American Collection (online), December 15 and 16, 2021 @Christie’s

The results from the photography included in two recent late-season online-only contemporary art sales at Christie’s were generally uneventful. A lesser known 1980s-era Cindy Sherman print took the top lot honors across the two sales, and with a low overall Buy-In rate for photography (just over 10%), the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $340K) tallied up in the middle of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 29
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate $284000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate $419000
Total Lots Sold 26
Total Lots Bought In 3
Buy In % 10.34%
Total Sale Proceeds $341000

Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions):

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 15
Total Low Lots Sold 15
Total Low Lots Bought In 0
Low Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots $91000
Total Proceeds from Low Lots $74500
Mid Total Lots 13
Total Mid Lots Sold 10
Total Mid Lots Bought In 3
Mid Buy In % 23.08%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots $268000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots $242750
Total High Lots 1
Total High Lots Sold 1
Total High Lots Bought In 0
High Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots $60000
Total Proceeds from High Lots $23750

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 5, Richard Prince, Untitled (Covering Pollock), 2009, estimated at $40000-60000; it sold at $23750. The top photography outcome of the two sales was lot 4, Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 1985, estimated at $25000-35000, sold at $52500 (image above, via Christie’s.)

69.23% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there was just one positive surprise in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (image above, via Christie’s):

Lot 153, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Ionian Sea, Santa Cesarea, 1993, estimated at $15000-20000, sold at $50000

The complete lot by lot results can be found here (First Open) and here (Image World).

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Read more about: Cindy Sherman, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Christie's

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