Auction Results: Photographs, May 25, 2022 @Phillips London

Led by a vintage print of Gloria Swanson by Edward Steichen, and then topped by a rare Camp de Châlons album by Gustave Le Gray, the Photographs auction at Phillips in London last week performed solidly. In addition to the two high priced outcomes, a number of lower priced records were set for artists ranging from Markus Brunetti and Tania Franco Klein to Ihei Kimura and Rika Noguchi, among others. Statistically, the overall Buy-In rate for the sale came in under 20%, and with a handful of positive surprises, the Total Sale Proceeds (of nearly £2.2M) came in near the top end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 130
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £1558000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £2245000
Total Lots Sold 105
Total Lots Bought In 25
Buy In % 19.23%
Total Sale Proceeds £2198637

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 52
Total Low Lots Sold 45
Total Low Lots Bought In 7
Low Buy In % 13.46%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots £297000
Total Proceeds from Low Lots £316827
Mid Total Lots 70
Total Mid Lots Sold 52
Total Mid Lots Bought In 18
Mid Buy In % 25.71%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £1118000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £948150
Total High Lots 8
Total High Lots Sold 8
Total High Lots Bought In 0
High Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots £830000
Total Proceeds from High Lots £933660

The top lot by High estimate was lot 33, Edward Steichen, Gloria Swanson, New York, 1924, estimated at £240000-340000; it sold at £277200, but it was not the top outcome of the sale. That honor went to lot 34, Gustave Le Gray, Souvenirs du Camp de Châlons au Général Regnaud de Saint-Jean d’Angély (album of 66 albumen prints), 1857, estimated at £100000-150000, sold at £327600 (image above, via Phillips).

86.67%% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 6 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Phillips):

Lot 10, Peter Beard, Fayel Tall on Lake Rudolf at Loingalani, El Molo Bay, 1987, estimated at £5000-7000, sold at £16380

Lot 13, Peter Beard, Joy Mboya, Loyangalani, Lake Rudolf, Kenya, 1993, estimated at £4000-6000, sold at £18900

Lot 34, Gustave Le Gray, Souvenirs du Camp de Châlons au Général Regnaud de Saint-Jean d’Angély (album of 66 albumen prints), 1857, estimated at £100000-150000, sold at £327600

Lot 42, Noguchi Rika, フジヤマ [Fujiyama] A Prime #1, 1997, estimated at £5000-7000, sold at £63000

Lot 55, Peter Beard, Orphaned cheetah cubs @ Mweiga nr. Nyeri (KENYA) for The End of the Game / Last word from Paradise, 1968, estimated at £20000-30000, sold at £126000

Lot 133, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Winston Churchill, Liverpool, 1951/1979, estimated at £1000-2000, sold at £11340

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gustave Le Gray, Peter Beard, Rika Noguchi, Phillips

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