The recent various owner sale at Christie’s in Paris had a major re-calibration, in the form of the pre-sale withdrawl of all the 19th century lots queued up at the end of the sale (30 lots in total, against 143 original lots). After the dust settled, the remaining lots performed generally to expectation, albeit without much fanfare. The overall Buy-In rate hovered a bit too high (near 38%) and there were only a few positive surprises, so the Total Sale Proceeds came in just about even with the low end of the revised aggregate pre-sale estimate range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 112 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | €1100000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | €1557000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 70 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 42 |
| Buy In % | 37.50% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | €1111875 |
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 44 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 28 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 16 |
| Low Buy In % | 36.36% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | €239000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | €151750 |
| Mid Total Lots | 63 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 40 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 23 |
| Mid Buy In % | 36.51% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | €883000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | €635625 |
| Total High Lots | 5 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 2 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 3 |
| High Buy In % | 60.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | €435000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | €324500 |
The top lot by High estimate was lot 38, László Moholy-Nagy, Photogramme, Dessau, 1925, estimated at €120000-180000 (image in preview post); it sold at €125000. The top outcome of the sale was lot 96, Irving Penn, The Hand of Miles Davis (B), New York, 1986/1992, estimated at €80000-100000, sold at €199500 (image above, via Christie’s).
91.43% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 3 surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Christie’s):
Lot 23, Brassaï, Le Viaduc d’Auteuil, 1932, estimated at €3000-5000, sold at €10625
Lot 29, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Sorcellerie Funèbre, San Pablito (Sierra de Puebla), c1933, estimated at €3000-5000, sold at €10000
Lot 34, Wols, Sabine Hettner, c1935, estimated at €8000-12000, sold at €26250
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
