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.

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

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