The results from the recent Photographs sale at Sotheby’s in Paris (online) last week were altogether soft. The top two price tiers had buy-in rates over 60% and the the lower price tier was plagued by no reserve lots that sold well under their estimate ranges. With the top lot Peter Beard work failing to find a buyer and just a handful of positive surprises to balance the load, the Total Sale Proceeds (of just under €700K) came in at less than half of the bottom end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 172 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | €1509100 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | €2225400 |
| Total Lots Sold | 115 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 57 |
| Buy In % | 33.14% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | €697536 |
Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions). Given recent currency fluctuations, we have once again re-adapted our local currency thresholds to match roughly $10000 and $50000 break points between categories.
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 121 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 97 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 24 |
| Low Buy In % | 19.83% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | €539400 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | €325206 |
| Mid Total Lots | 44 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 17 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 27 |
| Mid Buy In % | 61.36% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | €966000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | €309330 |
| Total High Lots | 7 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 1 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 6 |
| High Buy In % | 85.71% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | €720000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | €63000 |
The top lot by High estimate was lot 144, Peter Beard, Kids and Croc (15’ 9″ Crocodyle), 1968/1997, estimated at €200000-300000; it did not sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 153, Shirin Neshat, ‘Untitled’ (from ‘Women of Allah’), 1996, estimated at €50000-70000, sold at €63000 (image above, via Sotheby’s).
65.22% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 5 surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Sotheby’s):
Lot 17, Andres Serrano, ‘Rodeo Queen, Jennifer Ridgley’ (from America), 2002, estimated at €2000-3000, sold at €6930
Lot 27, Bruce Bellas, Selected Images, 1950s, estimated at €100-200, sold at €1764
Lot 66, Harry Peccinotti, ‘Tear London’, 1969, estimated at €600-800, sold at €1890
Lot 91, Barbara Probst, Exposure #32: N.Y.C., 249 W. 34th Street, 01.02.05, 5:04 p.m., 2005, estimated at €6000-8000, sold at €16380
Lot 147, Nick Brandt, Lion Couple, Serengeti, 2010, estimated at €8000-12000, sold at €31500
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
