Led by a string of Irving Penn Small Trades portraits, the various owner Photographs auction at Phillips in London last week performed admirably. The sale generally hit all the marks: low overall Buy-In rate (under 7%), a number of positive surprises (15), and a top lot Helmut Newton print that sold over its estimate range. All of that positive momentum led to Total Sale Proceeds of nearly £2.9M, solidly above 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 | 116 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | £1725300 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | £2528700 |
| Total Lots Sold | 108 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 8 |
| Buy In % | 6.90% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | £2880423 |
Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 28 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 27 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Low Buy In % | 3.57% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | £90700 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | £100359 |
| Mid Total Lots | 63 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 59 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 4 |
| Mid Buy In % | 6.35% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | £713000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | £832104 |
| Total High Lots | 25 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 22 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 3 |
| High Buy In % | 12.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | £1725000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | £1947960 |
The top lot by High estimate was lot 36, Helmut Newton, Charlotte Rampling at the Hotel Nord-Pinus, Arles, France, 1973/2002-2003, estimated at £250000-350000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at £441000 (images above, via Phillips).
83.33% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 15 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Phillips):
Lot 8, Irving Penn, House Painter (B), London, 1950/1967, estimated at £30000-50000, sold at £107100
Lot 9, Irving Penn, Barber, New York, 1951/1967, estimated at £30000-50000, sold at £138600
Lot 10, Irving Penn, Milkman (A), New York, 1951/1967, estimated at £30000-50000, sold at £151200
Lot 27, Bastiaan Woudt, Disk, Alkmaar, 2020, estimated at £18000-22000, sold at £60480
Lot 33, Candida Höfer, Palazzo Corsini Firenze I, 2008/later, estimated at £15000-20000, sold at £75600
Lot 41, Miyako Ishiuchi, Yokosuka Story #98 Sakamoto-chō, 1977, estimated at £7000-9000, sold at £22680
Lot 42, Miyako Ishiuchi, Yokosuka Story #28, 1977, estimated at £7000-9000, sold at £18900
Lot 46, Wolfgang Tillmans, Kneeling nude, 1997, estimated at £4000-6000, sold at £18900
Lot 50, Wolfgang Tillmans, Alex & Lutz am Strand, 1992, estimated at £4000-6000, sold at £15120
Lot 76, Gavin Bond, Pom Poms from Backstage: Volume 1, 2007, estimated at £1000-2000, sold at £8190
Lot 96, Jonas Bendiksen, Crashed rocket ship and butterflies, #2. Altai Territory, Russia, 2000, estimated at £2000-3000, sold at £11340
Lot 97, Lorenzo Meloni, Ouagadougou Conference Center, Sirte, Libya, 2016, estimated at £2000-3000, sold at £6300
Lot 98, Matt Black, Birds, Tulare, California from American Geography, 2014, estimated at £2000-3000, sold at £6300
Lot 105, Nadav Kander, The Doctor, Chernobyl, 2019, estimated at £4000-6000, sold at £18900
Lot 109, Paolo Pellegrin, Civilians sift through the rubble looking for survivors following an Israeli air raid. Beirut, Lebanon from Double Blind, 2006, estimated at £2000-3000, sold at £6048
The complete lot by lot results can be found here.
