Auction Results: Photography, with Contemporary Art, December 2 and 4, 2010 @Lempertz

Three lots of winding towers from Bernd and Hilla Becher provided nearly half of the Total Sale Proceeds for photography at the recent sales at Kunsthaus Lempertz in Cologne (one photography auction and one contemporary art auction that included photographs). In an otherwise routine set of sales, these and other smaller surprises helped bring the results in over the Total High Estimate. (Lempertz does not provide an estimate range in most cases, just a single estimate number, so this figure is used as the High estimate in our calculations).

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

Total Lots: 217
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 541600€
Total Lots Sold: 128
Total Lots Bought In: 89
Buy In %: 41.01%
Total Sale Proceeds: 601500€

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

Low Total Lots: 205
Low Sold: 123
Low Bought In: 82
Buy In %: 40.00%
Total Low Estimate: 354600€
Total Low Sold: 298860€
Mid Total Lots: 12
Mid Sold: 5
Mid Bought In: 7
Buy In %: 58.33%
Total Mid Estimate: 187000€
Total Mid Sold: 302640€
High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: 0€
Total High Sold: NA
The top lot by High estimate was tied between three lots. Each was a group of 4 winding tower prints by Bernd and Hilla Becher (each individual image titled by location): lot 308 from 1966-1973, lot 309 from 1967-1975, and lot 310 from 1966-1973. Each of the lots was estimated at 20000-25000€. Lot 309 was the top outcome of the sale at 138000€; lot 308 sold for 52800€ and lot 310 sold for 91200€.

80.47% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate. There were a total of 20 surprises across the two sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 308, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Merthyr Vale Colliery, Shaft 2, Aberavan, South Wales, GB, and three others, 1966-1973, at 52800€
Lot 309, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Fosse L’Archevque, Aniche, France Nord, and three others, 1967-1975, at 138000€
Lot 310, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Glenrhondda Colliery, Treherbert, South Wales, GB, and three others, 1966-1973, at 91200€ (image at right, top, via Lempertz)
Lot 495, Gerhard Richter, Ohne Titel, 1989, at 5160€
Lot 496, Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Foto, 1989, at 4080€
Lot 571, Rudolph Schwarzkogler, 3. Aktion, Wien, 1965, at 9000€
Lot 706, J. Pascal Sebah, Ohne Titel (Ansichten aus Agypten), 1870s, at 3360€
Lot 732, Willy Maywald, Ohne Titel (Stilleben), 1930s, at 1200€
Lot 748, Max Lohr, Ohne Titel, 1930, at 1320€
Lot 749, Max Lohr, Antike, 1930, at 1320€
Lot 762, George Platt Lynes, Ohne Titel, 1939, at 1680€
Lot 783, Erwin Blumenfeld, Ohne Titel, 1943, at 13200€ (image at right, bottom, via Lempertz)
Lot 798, Koichiro Yahagi, Ohne Titel, 1960s, at 1320€
Lot 821, Charlotte March, Gloria, Silberturban, 1966, at 3720€ (image at right, middle, via Lempertz)
Lot 825, Karl Hugo Schmölz, Ford-Werke, Köln, 1940s, at 1440€
Lot 826, Karl Hugo Schmölz, Drathaus, Düsselforf, 1952, at 1440€
Lot 854, Emmet Gowin, Ice Fish, Danville, Virginia, 1971/1973, at 1560€
Lot 868, Jeanloup Sieff, Bottom, 1969/Later, at 5040€
Lot 884, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Tasman Sea, Ngarupupu, and two others, 1982-1990, at 2880€
Lot 885, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Bay of Biscay, Bakio, and two others, 1991, at 3000€
Complete lot by lot results (for both Photography and Contemporary Art) can be found here.

Kunsthaus Lempertz
Neumarkt 3
D-50667 Köln

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