The Susie Tompkins Buell collection delivered powerhouse results at its recent sale at Phillips in New York. The auction was led by a trio of masterworks by Edward Weston and Edward Steichen – all three found buyers and one of the Westons topped out at $788K. The rest of the sale was nearly white glove, with only two passes in the tightly edited 56 lot sale (leading to an overall Buy-In rate under 4%). Rare works by Dorothea Lange and Consuelo Kanaga provided consistent momentum to the sale, with 9 of the prints by the two artists jumping into positive surprise territory. In the end, the Total Sale Proceeds came in at roughly $5.4M, just under 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 | 56 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $3690000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $5557000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 54 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 2 |
| Buy In % | 3.57% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $5457625 |
Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 20 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 20 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Low Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $145000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $246125 |
| Mid Total Lots | 18 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 18 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Mid Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $372000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $565000 |
| Total High Lots | 18 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 16 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 2 |
| High Buy In % | 11.11% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | $5040000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | $4646500 |
The top lot by High estimate was tied between three lots: lot 12, Edward Weston, Circus Tent, 1924, lot 15 Edward Steichen, Heavy Roses, Voulangis, France, 1914, and lot 21, Edward Weston, Palm Trunk, Cuernavaca, 1925, each estimated at $400000-600000. The Weston circus tent was the top outcome of the sale at $788000 (image above via Phillips), while the Steichen roses sold at $524000 and the Weston palm trunk sold at $275000.
90.74% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and 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 Phillips):
Lot 1, Consuelo Kanaga, Profile of a Young Girl from the Tennessee Series, 1948, estimated at $15000-25000, sold at $106250
Lot 3, Dorothea Lange, Oklahoma Sharecropper and Family Entering California. Stalled on the Desert near Indio, California, 1937, estimated at $15000-25000, sold at $62500
Lot 23, Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936, estimated at $100000-150000, sold at $337500
Lot 34, Consuelo Kanaga, Annie Mae Merriweather, 1935, estimated at $7000-9000, sold at $30000
Lot 35, Consuelo Kanaga, Annie Mae Merriweather, c1935, estimated at $7000-9000, sold at $20000
Lot 39, Consuelo Kanaga, Mother and Son (The Question, Florida), 1950, estimated at $6000-8000, sold at $33750
Lot 45, Consuelo Kanaga, Portrait of Kenneth Spencer, 1933, estimated at $6000-8000, sold at $16250
Lot 46, Dorothea Lange, A Negro Boy Who Wants to Go to High School, His Father is a Sharecropper Near Earle, Arkansas, 1935, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $33750
Lot 48, Dorothea Lange, Mother and Children on the Road, Tulelake, Siskiyou County, California, 1939, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $55000
The complete lot by lot results can be found here.
