Auction Results: Photographs, April 6, 2016 @Christie’s

Fighting the headwinds of an overall Buy-In rate over 35%, the Total Sale Proceeds for Christie’s recent various owner Photographs sale nudged in just above the aggregate pre-sale low estimate. But in comparison to the results from last October (a dispiriting $2.7M), the $4.0M tally should bring a sigh of relief. Most of the Sugimoto prints that headlined the sale performed well, and there were just enough positive surprises to be found elsewhere to keep the overall total in the sweet spot.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 202
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate $3816000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate $5631000
Total Lots Sold 128
Total Lots Bought In 74
Buy In % 36.63%
Total Sale Proceeds $4086125

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 46
Total Low Lots Sold 29
Total Low Lots Bought In 17
Low Buy In % 36.96%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots $347000
Total Proceeds from Low Lots $294750
Mid Total Lots 131
Total Mid Lots Sold 80
Total Mid Lots Bought In 51
Mid Buy In % 38.93%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots $2854000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots $1803500
Total High Lots 25
Total High Lots Sold 19
Total High Lots Bought In 6
High Buy In % 24.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots $2430000
Total Proceeds from High Lots $1987875

The top lot by High estimate was tied between two lots: lot 83, Paul Strand, The Family, Luzzara, Italy, 1953, and lot 117, Diane Arbus, Boy with a straw hat waiting to march in a pro-war parade, N.Y.C., 1967, both estimated at $200000-300000. The Strand print was the top outcome of the sale at $461000, while the Arbus print sold at $245000 (image in preview post).

89.06% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 8 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Christie’s):

Lot 53, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Die Missbrauchte Zeit, 1985/1988, estimated at $5000-7000, sold at $20000

Lot 75, Weegee, Coney Island, 1940/late 1950s, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $30000

Lot 94, Weegee, Bagelman, c1940/later, estimated at $4000-6000, sold at $13750

Lot 96, John Thomson, Selected Images from “Street Life in London”, c1877, estimated at $5000-7000, sold at $17500

Lot 100, Lee Friedlander, New Orleans, 1979, estimated at $4000-6000, sold at $25000

Lot 116, Francesca Woodman, Self-Deceit #6, Rome, 1978, estimated at $25000-35000, sold at $81250

Lot 134, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Caribbean Sea, Jamaica, 1980, estimated at $20000-30000, sold at $60000

Lot 147, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Tim, 27 Years Old; Orange County, California; $30, 1990, estimated at $4000-6000, sold at $18750

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: Francesca Woodman, Hiroshi Sugimoto, John Thomson, Lee Friedlander, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Weegee (Arthur Felig), Christie's

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