It was a lackluster start to the Fall photography season at the recent Post-War and Contemporary Art sale at Christie’s in London last week, with only 2 of the top 7 photography lots finding buyers and the Total Sale Proceeds for photography missing the Total Low Estimate by a decent margin.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 46
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £231000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £337700
Total Lots Sold: 34
Total Lots Bought In: 12
Buy In %: 26.09%
Total Sale Proceeds: £159813
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 27
Low Sold: 21
Low Bought In: 6
Buy In %: 22.22%
Total Low Estimate: £83700
Total Low Sold: £61813
Mid Total Lots: 16
Mid Sold: 12
Mid Bought In: 4
Buy In %: 25.00%
Total Mid Estimate: £144000
Total Mid Sold: £73000
High Total Lots: 3
High Sold: 1
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 66.67%
Total High Estimate: £110000
Total High Sold: £25000
The top lot by High estimate was lot 160, David LaChapelle, Deluge: Museum, 2007; it did not sell. The next highest lot by High estimate was lot 14, Thomas Ruff, m. d. p. n. 28, 2003; it too failed to find a buyer. The top outcome of the sale fell to lot 20, Chuck Close, Self-Portrait, 1980, at £25000. (Image at right, top, via Christie’s.)
79.41% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There was only one surprise in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 151, Larry Clark, Teenage Lust, 1983, at £8125
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
85 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3LD
