The Motion photography at Leitz Gallery in Vienna last week suffered from the triple negative of the top lot failing to sell, a high overall Buy-In rate (55%), and roughly 60% of the lots that did find buyers doing so below their estimate ranges. It’s hard to recover when the bidding is this soft, unsurprisingly leading to Total Sale Proceeds (of roughly €210K) that fell well 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 | 120 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | €568100 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | €694200 |
| Total Lots Sold | 54 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 66 |
| Buy In % | 55.00% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | €209760 |
Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 114 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 50 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 64 |
| Low Buy In % | 56.14% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | €372200 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | €141360 |
| Mid Total Lots | 5 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 4 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Mid Buy In % | 20.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | €72000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | €68400 |
| Total High Lots | 1 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 0 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 1 |
| High Buy In % | 100.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | €250000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | €0 |
The top lot by High estimate was lot 37, Edward Weston, Nude Study (Anita), Mexico, 1925, estimated at €200000-250000; it did not sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 50, Otto Steinert, Ein-Fuß-Gänger, Paris, 1950, estimated at €20000-25000, sold at €33600 (image above, via Leitz).
Just 38.89% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there was 1 positive surprise in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (image above, via Leitz):
Lot 87, Franz Hubmann, Kärntnerstrasse, Vienna, c.1960, estimated at €1800-2000, sold at €4800
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
