Auction Results: Importante Collection Européenne de Photographies, November 10, 2017 @Sotheby’s Paris

The recent single collector photography sale at Sotheby’s in Paris generally performed to expectations. With an overall Buy-In rate just above 30% and a handful of positive surprises to balance out the passes, the Total Sale Proceeds fell squarely 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 97
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate €1060000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate €1517000
Total Lots Sold 66
Total Lots Bought In 31
Buy In % 31.96%
Total Sale Proceeds €1331750

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 41
Total Low Lots Sold 27
Total Low Lots Bought In 14
Low Buy In % 34.15%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots €199000
Total Proceeds from Low Lots €158000
Mid Total Lots 46
Total Mid Lots Sold 30
Total Mid Lots Bought In 16
Mid Buy In % 34.78%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots €668000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots €470000
Total High Lots 10
Total High Lots Sold 9
Total High Lots Bought In 1
High Buy In % 10.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots €650000
Total Proceeds from High Lots €703750

The top lot by High estimate was lot 50, Irving Penn, Frozen Foods, New York, 1977/1984, estimated at €70000-90000 (image in preview post); it sold at €87500. The top outcome of the sale was lot 46, Irving Penn, Still Life with Watermelon, New York, 1947/1985, estimated at €60000-80000, sold at €150000 (image above, via Sotheby’s).

96.97% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 5 surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Sotheby’s):

Lot 20, Edward Weston, Dunes, Oceano, 1936/later (CW), estimated at €3000-5000, sold at €10625

Lot 21, Edward Weston, Legs in Hammock, 1937/later (CW), estimated at €3000-5000, sold at €10625

Lot 25, Duane Michals, Le Cirque, c1970, estimated at €1500-2000, sold at €6250

Lot 48, Horst P. Horst, Still Life with Pears, 1940s/c1980, estimated at €4000-6000, sold at €25000

Lot 49, Irving Penn, Potatoes and Baltic Herring, Sweden, 1964/1986, estimated at €12000-18000, sold at €37500

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: Duane Michals, Edward Weston, Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, Sotheby's

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