The works in the single owner private collection sale of photography on offer at Rago last week generally performed solidly. The top lot selection of Lee Friedlander little screens found a buyer (albeit below its estimate range), the overall Buy-In rate was just above 4%, and there were a handful of positive surprises, so most of the metrics lined up decently well. The one dampening effect came from lots that sold below their estimate ranges, with more than 32% of lots that did sell dropping underneath their pre-sale ranges. But in the end, the Total Sale Proceeds (of just under $1.15M) still came in above 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 | 48 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $1076000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $1533000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 46 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 2 |
| Buy In % | 4.17% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $1149966 |
Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High price range definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 25 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 25 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Low Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $126000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $165736 |
| Mid Total Lots | 18 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 17 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Mid Buy In % | 5.56% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $437000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $374980 |
| Total High Lots | 5 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 4 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 1 |
| High Buy In % | 20.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | $970000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | $609250 |
The top lot by High estimate was lot 104, Lee Friedlander, The Little Screens (38 prints), 1961-1970/later, estimated at $250000-350000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $228600 (image above, via Rago).
Just 67.39% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 5 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate)(images above via Rago):
Lot 115, Nan Goldin, Greer and Robert in the Bed, NYC, 1982, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $42240
Lot 132, Erwin Olaf, The Ice Cream Parlour (from the Rain series), 2003, estimated at $3000-5000, sold at $12700
Lot 142, Julius Shulman, Case Study House #22 (Two Girls), Los Angeles, California (Pierre Koenig), 1960/later, estimated at $5000-7000, sold at $15875
Lot 145, Julius Shulman, Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, California (Pierre Koenig), 1960/later, estimated at $1000-1500, sold at $3810
Lot 146, Julius Shulman, Raymond Lowey House, Palm Springs, 1947/later, estimated at $1000-1500, sold at $3556
The complete lot by lot results can be found here.
