The photography lots included in the various themed sales at Phillips (begun as a replacement for the original Saturday sales last fall) have fallen into a kind of pattern: regardless of the thematic subject or the actual number of photo lots on offer, the buy-in rates have been generally higher than normal and the Total Sale Proceeds (for the photography alone) have tended to come in at around half a million dollars. The photography in this auction was right in this same zone, with a slightly better buy-in rate than previous installments. With 14 of these themed sales apparently scheduled for 2010 (in London and New York), if Phillips can keep up a similar pace, the overall photography proceeds for the house will increase significantly.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 134
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $629400
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $907300
Total Lots Sold: 86
Total Lots Bought In: 48
Buy In %: 35.92%
Total Sale Proceeds: $518876
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 117
Low Sold: 77
Low Bought In: 40
Buy In %: 34.19%
Total Low Estimate: $455300
Total Low Sold: $280751
Mid Total Lots: 15
Mid Sold: 7
Mid Bought In: 8
Buy In %: 53.33%
Total Mid Estimate: $322000
Total Mid Sold: $141875
High Total Lots: 2
High Sold: 2
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total High Estimate: $130000
Total High Sold: $96250
The top lot by High estimate was lot 148, Edward Steichen, The Maypole, Empire State Building, 1932/1960 at $50000-70000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $56250.
90.70% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of five surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 39, Dennis Hopper, Out of the 60s from the Geldzahler Portfolio, 1998, at $1625
Lot 121, Walker Evans, New York Subway Portrait, 1940/1960, at $7500
Lot 126, Dennis Stock, James Dean in Times Square, New York City, 1955/Later, at $6000
Lot 131, Larry Clark, Untitled from 42nd Street Boys, 1980, at $3250
Lot 159, Anatoly Pronin, Evening, Manhattan skyline, New York, USA, 1982, at $2000
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
Phillips De Pury & Company
450 West 15th Street
New York, NY 10011
