Auction Results: Photographs, May 18, 2017 @Phillips London

The results from Phillips’ recent various owner Photographs sale in London were consistently confident. With strength through the mid and top price tiers, a low overall Buy-In rate (just under 13%), and just enough positive surprises to keep things interesting, the auction generated Total Sale Proceeds that fell near the top of the pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 93
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £1675500
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £2393500
Total Lots Sold 81
Total Lots Bought In 12
Buy In % 12.90%
Total Sale Proceeds £2344875

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 2
Total Low Lots Sold 1
Total Low Lots Bought In 1
Low Buy In % 50.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots £7500
Total Proceeds from Low Lots £2375
Mid Total Lots 67
Total Mid Lots Sold 60
Total Mid Lots Bought In 7
Mid Buy In % 10.45%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £751000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £848750
Total High Lots 24
Total High Lots Sold 20
Total High Lots Bought In 4
High Buy In % 16.67%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots £1635000
Total Proceeds from High Lots £1493750

The top lot by High estimate was lot 32, John Baldessari, Transform (Lipstick), 1990, estimated at £300000-400000 (image in preview post). It was also the top outcome of the sale at £389000.

95.06% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range (with nearly 60% selling above their estimates) and there were a total of 7 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Phillips):

Lot 2, Alasdair McLellan, Kate Moss Supreme, 2012, estimated at £7000-9000, sold at £21250 (image in preview post)

Lot 20, Helmut Newton, Raquel Welch in her backyard, Beverly Hills, 1981/1984, estimated at £5000-7000, sold at £16250

Lot 39, Seiji Kurata, Tattooed Man from Flash Up, 1975/1978, estimated at £15000-25000, sold at £56250 (image in preview post)

Lot 44, Lee Jeonglok, Tree of Life #1, 2007, estimated at £7000-9000, sold at £22500

Lot 59, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, 1932/1947, estimated at £30000-50000, sold at £131000 (image in preview post)

Lot 69, Robert Mapplethorpe, Chest, 1987, estimated at £4000-6000, sold at £15000

Lot 93, Nobuyoshi Araki, Untitled from Colourscapes, 1991/later, estimated at £15000-20000, sold at £43750

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: Helmut Newton, Lee Jeonglok, Nobuyoshi Araki, Robert Mapplethorpe, Phillips

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