Auction Results: From a Universal Collector – The Olbricht Collection | Being Human, June 9, 2022 @Van Ham

A handful of Cindy Sherman prints helped support the wider photography offerings at a single collector contemporary art sale at Van Ham last week. While the top lot Helmut Newton and Thomas Demand prints didn’t sell, the Sherman prints sold well, and with a few other low priced positive surprises and an overall Buy-In rate for photography under 18%, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of just over €525K) came in near the top end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 122
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate €410000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate €587500
Total Lots Sold 101
Total Lots Bought In 21
Buy In % 17.21%
Total Sale Proceeds €525533

Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions). Given recent currency fluctuations, we have once again re-adapted our local currency thresholds to match roughly $10000 and $50000 break points between categories.

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 105
Total Low Lots Sold 89
Total Low Lots Bought In 16
Low Buy In % 15.24%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots €185500
Total Proceeds from Low Lots €184973
Mid Total Lots 15
Total Mid Lots Sold 12
Total Mid Lots Bought In 3
Mid Buy In % 20.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots €272000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots €340560
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 €130000
Total Proceeds from High Lots €0

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 1213, Helmut Newton, Nude of Kristen McMenamy, Monte Carlo (2 photographs), 1995, estimated at €50000-70000; it did not sell. The photography outcome was lot 1130, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #353, 2000, estimated at €15000-20000, sold at €52800 (image above, via Van Ham.)

92.08% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate. There were a total of 9 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Van Ham):

Lot 1010, Anonym, Lunar Photography / Three moon phases, c1970s, estimated at €400-600, sold at €1452

Lot 1012, Sigmar Polke, Ohne Titel, c1984, estimated at €400-600, sold at €1452

Lot 1130, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #353, 2000, estimated at €15000-20000, sold at €52800

Lot 1131, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #356, 2000, estimated at €15000-20000, sold at €46200

Lot 1132, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #358, 2000, estimated at €15000-20000, sold at €46200

Lot 1140, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #252, 1992, estimated at €12000-18000, sold at €36960

Lot 1199, Louis Faurer, Bus No 7. New York. N.Y., 1950/1990, estimated at €600-800, sold at €2640

Lot 1279, Anonym, Burning of the Hindenburg, 1937, estimated at €500-700, sold at €1452

Lot 1291, Kyoichi Sawada, Flee to Safety (Vietnam Refugees), 1965/1973, estimated at €500-700, sold at €1848

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: Cindy Sherman, Louis Faurer, Sigmar Polke, Van Ham Kunstauktionen

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