Auction Results: Photographies, June 29, 2021 @Christie’s Paris

An overly high Buy-In rate (of nearly 39%) softened the results of the various owner photography sale at Christie’s in Paris last week. A coal bunker typology by Bernd and Hilla Becher took the top lot honors, and while there were a number of positive surprises, they weren’t enough to pull the Total Sale Proceeds (of roughly €1.3M) up to catch 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 118
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate €1387000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate €2004000
Total Lots Sold 72
Total Lots Bought In 46
Buy In % 38.98%
Total Sale Proceeds €1330625

Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions):

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 48
Total Low Lots Sold 31
Total Low Lots Bought In 17
Low Buy In % 35.42%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots €250000
Total Proceeds from Low Lots €214375
Mid Total Lots 57
Total Mid Lots Sold 34
Total Mid Lots Bought In 23
Mid Buy In % 40.35%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots €959000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots €615000
Total High Lots 13
Total High Lots Sold 7
Total High Lots Bought In 6
High Buy In % 46.15%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots €795000
Total Proceeds from High Lots €501250

The top lot by High estimate was lot 50, Irving Penn, Black and White Vogue Cover (Jean Patchett), New York, 1950/1976, estimated at €80000-120000; it sold for €118750. The top outcome of the sale was lot 16, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Coal Bunkers, Frontal Views, 1968-1993, estimated at €60000-80000, sold at €137500 (image above, via Christie’s).

98.61% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 9 surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Christie’s):

Lot 21, Luigi Ghirri, Milano, Studio di A. Rossi (n°405), 1989/2001, estimated at €4000-6000, sold at €12500

Lot 28, Brassaï, Le Roi Soleil, Paris, 1952, estimated at €5000-7000, sold at €23750

Lot 33, Nobuyoshi Araki, Sans titre (Standing Bound Nude), from A Nikki/A Diary, 1994, estimated at €2000-3000, sold at €8125

Lot 36, Nobuyoshi Araki, Sans titre, 1983, estimated at €2000-3000, sold at €6875

Lot 37, Anton Corbijn, Bono (Bath), New York, 1992, estimated at €4000-6000, sold at €16250

Lot 84, Jeanloup Sieff, Derrière Blanc, Paris, 1985, estimated at €2000-3000, sold at €8125

Lot 95, Robert Mapplethorpe, Maryanne, 1988, estimated at €7000-9000, sold at €20000

Lot 100, Francesca Woodman, Space2, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976/later, estimated at €4000-6000, sold at €20000

Lot 108, Peter Beard, Giraffes in Mirage on the Taru Desert, Kenya, June 1960, 1960/1990, estimated at €12000-18000, sold at €40000

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: Anton Corbijn, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Brassaï (Gyula Halász), Francesca Woodman, Jeanloup Sieff, Luigi Ghirri, Nobuyoshi Araki, Peter Beard, Robert Mapplethorpe, Christie's

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