Auction Results: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, March 7 and 8, 2017 @Christie’s London

The photography included in Christie’s recent Post-War and Contemporary Art sales in London performed admirably. With an overall Buy-In rate for photography under 8% (only 2 passed lots, and no lots sold below their estimates) and a handful of positive surprises (particularly Ruff and Tillmans), the Total Sale Proceeds cleared the high end of the aggregate pre-sale range with some room to spare.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 26
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £618000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £903000
Total Lots Sold 24
Total Lots Bought In 2
Buy In % 7.69%
Total Sale Proceeds £1192750

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 2
Total Low Lots Sold 2
Total Low Lots Bought In 0
Low Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots £9000
Total Proceeds from Low Lots £9500
Mid Total Lots 11
Total Mid Lots Sold 11
Total Mid Lots Bought In 0
Mid Buy In % 0.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £169000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £258500
Total High Lots 13
Total High Lots Sold 11
Total High Lots Bought In 2
High Buy In % 15.38%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots £725000
Total Proceeds from High Lots £924750

The top photography lot by High estimate was tied between two lots: lot 1, Wolfgang Tillmans, Freischwimmer 186, 2011, and lot 132, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #135, 1984, both estimated at £80000-120000; the Tillmans sold at £269000 and was the top photography outcome of the sales, while the Sherman did not sell (images in preview post).

100.00% of the photo lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 7 surprises in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 1, Wolfgang Tillmans, Freischwimmer 186, 2011, estimated at £80000-120000, sold at £269000 (image in preview post)

Lot 101, Louise Lawler, Date Painting, 2001, estimated at £10000-15000, sold at £40000 (image in preview post)

Lot 129, Louise Lawler, Kusama, 2005-2006, estimated at £12000-18000, sold at £37500 (image above, via Christie’s)

Lot 135, Thomas Ruff, Jpeg pt01, 2006, estimated at £20000-30000, sold at £197000 (image in preview post)

Lot 194, Peter Beard, Orphaned Cheetah Cubs, Mweiga, near Nyeri, Kenya, March 1968, 2003, estimated at £20000-30000, sold at £93500 (image above, via Christie’s)

Lot 307, Chris Levine, Kate Moss, Kate’s Lights (Pure), 2013, estimated at £8000-12000, sold at £37500 (image above, via Christie’s)

Lot 317, Gerhard Richter, Abstractes Bild (P1), 2014, estimated at £6000-8000, sold at £27500 (image above, via Christie’s)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).

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Read more about: Chris Levine, Gerhard Richter, Louise Lawler, Peter Beard, Thomas Ruff, Wolfgang Tillmans, Christie's

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