Auction Results: Photographs, May 16, 2019 @Phillips London

The various owner Photographs auction at Phillips in London last week generally hit its marks. The top three lots all found buyers, there were more than a handful of positive surprises, and the overall Buy-In rate came in under 24%, so many of the key metrics were in solid territory. As a result, the Total Sale Proceeds (of roughly £1.8M) settled into the middle of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 162
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £1569500
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £2313500
Total Lots Sold 124
Total Lots Bought In 38
Buy In % 23.46%
Total Sale Proceeds £1849188

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 40
Total Low Lots Sold 32
Total Low Lots Bought In 8
Low Buy In % 20.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots £163500
Total Proceeds from Low Lots £122438
Mid Total Lots 99
Total Mid Lots Sold 74
Total Mid Lots Bought In 25
Mid Buy In % 25.25%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £1175000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £995500
Total High Lots 23
Total High Lots Sold 18
Total High Lots Bought In 5
High Buy In % 21.74%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots £975000
Total Proceeds from High Lots £731250

The top lot by High estimate was tied between three lots: lot 21, Thomas Ruff, 16h 28m/-60 degrees, 1992, lot 40, Man Ray, La Priere, 1930/1971, and lot 41, Helena Almeida, Seduzir (Seduce), 2002, each estimated at £50000-70000. The Man Ray print was the top outcome of the sale at £100000 (image above, via Phillips), while the Ruff print sold at £56250 and the Almeida print sold at £47500.

93.55% 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 Phillips):

Lot 23, David LaChapelle, Rape of Africa, 2008, estimated at £8000-12000, sold at £27500

Lot 24, David LaChapelle, Pieta with Courtney Love, 2006, estimated at £10000-15000, sold at £40000

Lot 57, Hiroki Inoue, Fox Chase: Wherever You Go, I Will Follow!, 2016, estimated at £5000-7000, sold at £27500

Lot 92, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Self-Portrait with Paige Powell, c1982-1984, estimated at £8000-12000, sold at £30000

Lot 104, Helmut Newton, SUMO, 1999, estimated at £2000-3000, sold at £6875

Lot 132, Peter Beard, Maureen and a late-night feeder, 2:00am, Hog Ranch, 1987/later, estimated at £6000-8000, sold at £17500

Lot 140, Don McCullin, Shell-shocked US Marine, the Battle of Hue, 1968/later, estimated at £7000-9000, sold at £25000

Lot 145, Bill Brandt, Francis Bacon Walking on Primrose Hill, 1963/1979-1980, estimated at £3000-5000, sold at £12500

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: Bill Brandt, David LaChapelle, Don McCullin, Helmut Newton, Hiroki Inoue, Man Ray, Peter Beard, Phillips

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