Auction Results: First Open | Post-War & Contemporary Art (online), July 18, 2023 @Christie’s

The photography included in Christie’s recent First Open online sale didn’t deliver much in the way of excitement. Both top photo lots failed to sell, and with one withdrawal and a Buy-In rate for photography over 40%, it should come as no surprise that the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $118K) came in meaningfully 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 19
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate $185000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate $278000
Total Lots Sold 11
Total Lots Bought In 8
Buy In % 42.11%
Total Sale Proceeds $118945

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 13
Total Low Lots Sold 9
Total Low Lots Bought In 4
Low Buy In % 30.77%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots $71000
Total Proceeds from Low Lots $54685
Mid Total Lots 4
Total Mid Lots Sold 2
Total Mid Lots Bought In 2
Mid Buy In % 50.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots $87000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots $64260
Total High Lots 2
Total High Lots Sold 0
Total High Lots Bought In 2
High Buy In % 100.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots $120000
Total Proceeds from High Lots $0

The top photography lot by High estimate was tier between two lots, both estimated at $40000-60000: lot 6, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (The War For Me to Become You), 2008, and lot 8, Wolfgang Tillmans, Last Still Life, New York, 1995; both lots failed to sell. The top photography outcome of the sale was lot 90, Gregory Crewdson, Untitled (house in the road), 2002, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $50400 (image above, via Christie’s.)

90.91% 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) (image above, via Christie’s):

Lot 90, Gregory Crewdson, Untitled (house in the road), 2002, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $50400

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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