While the bidding was apparently thin, there was enough interest in the 21 image Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Stills lot at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening sale on November 12th to get a sale made. With that lot in the bag, the high priced lots in the rest of the sale (and its Morning and Afternoon brethren) struggled to keep pace, with five out of the next six most valuable photo lots passing. All in, the overall Buy-In rate for photography neared 30% and the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (including the Sherman lot) came in at just over $10M, falling just shy of the low end of the pre-sale aggregate estimate.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 38 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $10400000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $14355000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 27 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 11 |
| Buy In % | 28.95% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $10045500 |
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 0 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | NA |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | NA |
| Low Buy In % | NA |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $0 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | NA |
| Mid Total Lots | 10 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 9 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Mid Buy In % | 10.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $335000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $400000 |
| Total High Lots | 28 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 18 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 10 |
| High Buy In % | 35.71% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | $14020000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | $9645500 |
The top lot by High estimate was lot 13, Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Stills (21 prints), 1977-1980, estimated at $6000000-8000000; it was also the top photo outcome of the sales at $6773000.
100.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were 3 positive surprises in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 435, Andres Serrano, Piss Christ, 1987, estimated at $60000-80000, sold at $173000 (image above, right, via Christie’s)
Lot 524, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #146, 1985, estimated at $100000-150000, sold at $461000 (image above, left, via Christie’s)
Lot 587, Richard Prince, Untitled (Watch), 1978-1979, estimated at $20000-30000, sold at $100000 (image above, middle, via Christie’s)
Complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening), here (Morning), and here (Afternoon).
