The photography included in the various modern and contemporary art sales at Van Ham in Cologne last week (including a handful of photographic NFTs) performed well. The overall Buy-In rate for photography hovered near 25%, and with the top lot Cindy Sherman print finding a buyer above its estimate range to juice the numbers, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly €730K) came in just below 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 | 35 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | €537000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | €769000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 26 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 9 |
| Buy In % | 25.71 |
| Total Sale Proceeds | €736284 |
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 12 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 10 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 2 |
| Low Buy In % | 16.67% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | €59000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | €79236 |
| Mid Total Lots | 19 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 13 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 6 |
| Mid Buy In % | 31.58% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | €310000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | €247848 |
| Total High Lots | 4 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 3 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 1 |
| High Buy In % | 25.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | €400000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | €409200 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 315, Cindy Sherman, Untitled#423, 2004, estimated at €160000-22000; it was also the top photography outcome of the sales was at €257400 (image above via Van Ham.)
96.15% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate. There were a total of 3 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Van Ham):
Lot 12, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Anwesen am Ruhrschnellweg bei Wattenscheid, 1931, estimated at €2500-3500, sold at €7260
Lot 108, John Baldessari, Brain Cloud (With Seascape and Palm Tree), 2009, estimated at €4000-6000, sold at €15840
Lot 113, Astrid Lowack, Sunny Mind, 2019, estimated at €3000-4000, sold at €11157
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
