Auction Results: Photography and Contemporary Art, December 2 and 3, 2016 @Lempertz

A nearly 50% Buy-In rate was the undoing of the recent Photography and Contemporary Art sales at Kunsthaus Lempertz in Cologne. While a dozen positive surprises helped to make up some of the difference, the gap was just too great with so many lots failing to find buyers. In the end, the Total Sale Proceeds fell below the aggregate pre-sale high estimate by a decent margin.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 193
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate NA
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate €610100
Total Lots Sold 100
Total Lots Bought In 93
Buy In % 48.19%
Total Sale Proceeds €441750

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 177
Total Low Lots Sold 89
Total Low Lots Bought In 88
Low Buy In % 49.72%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots €377100
Total Proceeds from Low Lots €234174
Mid Total Lots 15
Total Mid Lots Sold 10
Total Mid Lots Bought In 5
Mid Buy In % 33.33%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots €183000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots €157976
Total High Lots 1
Total High Lots Sold 1
Total High Lots Bought In 0
High Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots €50000
Total Proceeds from High Lots €49600

The top lot by High estimate was lot 471, Thomas Struth, Paradise 20, Bayrischer Wald, 1999, estimated at €40000-50000 (image in preview post); it was also the top outcome of the sales at €49600.

Only 77.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range, but there were a total of 12 surprises in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Lempertz):

Lot 3, Samuel Boote and Samuel Rimathé, Views of Buenos Aires (Deutsches Hospital et al.) and Argentina, 1890s, estimated at €1000, sold at €2108

Lot 5, Wilhelm von Gloeden, Untitled (Portrait of a boy), c1900, estimated at €800, sold at €2852

Lot 20, Umbo, Portfolio, 1927-1930/1980, estimated at €10000, sold at €23560

Lot 70, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Untitled (Schubert & Salzer, Ingolstadt), 1950s, estimated at €1200, sold at €2480

Lot 91, Arno Fischer, New York, Staten Island Ferry, 1978/1998, estimated at €800, sold at €1984

Lot 93, Will McBride, Konrad Adenauer (4 prints), 1963, estimated at €2000, sold at €4464

Lot 95, Barbara Klemm, Leonid Brezhnev, Willy Brandt, Bonn, 1973/1997, estimated at €1000, sold at €3720

Lot 96, Barbara Klemm, Erich Honecker, Helmut Kohl, Bonn, 1987/1997, estimated at €1000, sold at €2728

Lot 101, Robert Häusser, Das Boot, 1972/later, estimated at €900, sold at €1860

Lot 126, Bill Ray, Faye Dunaway & Steve McQueen (at the set of ‘Thomas Crown Affair’), 1967/later, estimated at €2000-2500, sold at €5456

Lot 164, Nan Goldin, Stromboli at Dawn, 1993, estimated at €1200, sold at €3472

Lot 166, Thomas Struth, Paradies (portfolio of 6 prints), 2004, estimated at €1000, sold at €2604

The complete lot by lot results can be found here (Photography), here (Contemporary Art I), and here (Contemporary Art II).

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Read more about: Albert Renger-Patzsch, Nan Goldin, Thomas Struth, Umbo (Otto Umbehr), Will McBride, Kunsthaus Lempertz

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