Auction Results: Photographs, October 1, 2019 @Phillips

Softness in the highest priced lots dampened the results at Phillip’s recent Photographs sale in New York. The overall Buy-In rate for the sale hovered at roughly a third, but the top lots passed at a rate of 50%. A Hannah Wilke self-portrait was the top outcome in the sale, and with just 4 positive surprises (the most notable being a Roy DeCarava print that seemingly reached for the price anchor point of the current show at David Zwirner), the Total Sale Proceeds came in at just above $3.5M, decently below the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 247
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate $4099200
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate $6025300
Total Lots Sold 164
Total Lots Bought In 83
Buy In % 33.60%
Total Sale Proceeds $3534000

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 94
Total Low Lots Sold 67
Total Low Lots Bought In 27
Low Buy In % 28.72%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots $685300
Total Proceeds from Low Lots $530250
Mid Total Lots 131
Total Mid Lots Sold 86
Total Mid Lots Bought In 45
Mid Buy In % 34.35%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots $3110000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots $1888750
Total High Lots 22
Total High Lots Sold 11
Total High Lots Bought In 11
High Buy In % 50.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots $2230000
Total Proceeds from High Lots $1115000

The top lot by High estimate was lot 199, Robert Mapplethorpe, Lily, 1987, estimated at $200000-300000; it did not sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 111, Hannah Wilke, S.O.S. Starifaction Object Series (Performalist Self Portrait with Les Wollam), 1974, estimated at $180000-280000, sold at $225000 (image above via Phillips).

98.78% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 4 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Phillips):

Lot 68, Robert Frank, Trolley, New Orleans, 1955/c1986, estimated at $50000-70000, sold at $150000

Lot 72, Roy DeCarava, Hallway, New York, 1953/later, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $72500

Lot 213, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, New York, 1997, estimated at $8000-12000, sold at $27500

Lot 246, Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, Selected images, 2002-2005, estimated at $5000-7000, sold at $16250

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: Hannah Wilke, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, Robert Frank, Roy DeCarava, Phillips

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