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.
