Auction Results: Photography and Contemporary Art, May 29 and 30, 2015 @Lempertz

An overly large Buy-In rate was the dragging force on the photography sales at Kunsthaus Lempertz in Cologne last week. Nearly 50% of the lots failed to find buyers, and without enough positive surprises to pick up the slack, the Total Sale Proceeds fell well under the pre-sale estimate.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 215
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate NA
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate €645400
Total Lots Sold 109
Total Lots Bought In 106
Buy In % 49.30%
Total Sale Proceeds €422716

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 200
Total Low Lots Sold 102
Total Low Lots Bought In 98
Low Buy In % 49.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots €390400
Total Proceeds from Low Lots €276096
Mid Total Lots 13
Total Mid Lots Sold 5
Total Mid Lots Bought In 8
Mid Buy In % 61.54%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots €145000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots €53940
Total High Lots 2
Total High Lots Sold 2
Total High Lots Bought In 0
High Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots €110000
Total Proceeds from High Lots €101680

The top lot by High estimate was lot 560, Thomas Demand, Junior Suite, 2012, estimated at €50000-70000; it was also the top outcome of the sales at €57040.

76.14% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 5 surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Lempertz):

Lot 55, Cecil Beaton, Soapsuds Group at the Living Posters Ball, 1930/later, estimated at €1400-1600, sold at €3596

Lot 128, John Dominis, Steve McQueen in a Black Jaguar at Studio, CA, 1963/later, estimated at €1100, sold at €3224

Lot 135, Christer Strömholm, Paris, 1962/later, estimated at €1000, sold at €10540

Lot 152, Gerard Fieret, Selbsportrait, 1970, estimated at €1200, sold at €2852

Lot 616, Rudolph Schwarzkogler, 3. Aktion, Wien, 1965, estimated at €3000, sold at €17360

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: Cecil Beaton, Christer Strömholm, Gerard Petrus Fieret, John Dominis, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Kunsthaus Lempertz

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