Auction Results: The Discerning Eye: Property from the Collection of Eric Franck, Part I, May 19, 2017 @Sotheby’s London

The results from the Eric Franck collection sale at Sotheby’s in London last week were positively dispiriting. The many secondary Cartier-Bressons failed to elicit much buyer attention, and with an overall Buy-In rate near 60% and no positive surprises of note to pick up the slack, the Total Sale Proceeds plummeted to just over £300K, a discouraging outcome for all involved.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 119
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £662500
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £986000
Total Lots Sold 48
Total Lots Bought In 71
Buy In % 59.66%
Total Sale Proceeds £319188

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

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 60
Total Low Lots Sold 26
Total Low Lots Bought In 34
Low Buy In % 56.67%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots £209000
Total Proceeds from Low Lots £91813
Mid Total Lots 53
Total Mid Lots Sold 21
Total Mid Lots Bought In 32
Mid Buy In % 60.38%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £542000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £208625
Total High Lots 6
Total High Lots Sold 1
Total High Lots Bought In 5
High Buy In % 83.33%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots £235000
Total Proceeds from High Lots £18750

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 50, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Barcelona, Spain, 1933/1946, estimated at £40000-60000 (image in preview post). It did not sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 93, Josef Koudelka, Portugal, 1976/later, estimated at £18000-23000, sold at £22500 (image in preview post).

While 97.92% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range, there were only 3 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Sotheby’s):

Lot 29, Yoshiyuki Iwase, Untitled, 1955, estimated at £1000-2000, sold at £5000

Lot 57, Man Ray, The Maharajah Yeshwant Rao Holkor of Indore, c1930, estimated at £2000-3000, sold at £6875

Lot 84, René Burri, Les Pecheurs de Mikonos, 1957/2006, estimated at £2000-3000, sold at £6250

The complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Send this article to a friend

Read more about: Man Ray, René Burri, Yoshiyuki Iwase, Sotheby's

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.

Recent Articles

Jochen Lempert @Anton Kern

Jochen Lempert @Anton Kern

JTF (just the facts): A total of 47 photographic works, unframed and affixed directly to the wall, in the third floor gallery space. (Installation shots below.) The following works are ... Read on.

Sign up for our weekly email newsletter

This field is required.