Aside from the withdrawal of the top photo lot Richard Prince work, the photography included in the last tranche of the Emily Fisher Landau Collection sale at Sotheby’s last week in New York generally met expectations. In an online sale where most of the lots had no reserve, the overall Buy-In rate came in at a tidy 0.00%, leading to Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $355K) that fell near the top end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 39 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $262500 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $400500 |
| Total Lots Sold | 39 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $355600 |
Here is the breakdown (using our usual Low, Mid, and High price tier definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 23 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 23 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Low Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $143500 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $106807 |
| Mid Total Lots | 16 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 16 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Mid Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $257000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $248793 |
| Total High Lots | 0 |
| Total High Lots Sold | NA |
| Total High Lots Bought In | NA |
| High Buy In % | NA |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | $0 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | $0 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 131, Richard Prince, Untitled (Three Women’s Hands with Gloves), 1980, estimated at $100000-150000; it was withdrawn. The top photography outcome in the sale was lot 117, Robert Mapplethorpe, Orchid, 1987, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $40640 (image above, via Sotheby’s.)
Just 61.54% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 3 positive photographic surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Sotheby’s):
Lot 117, Robert Mapplethorpe, Orchid, 1987, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $40640
Lot 269, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Bjork (Poisson-Nageur), 2000, estimated at $3000-5000, sold at $13970
Lot 272, Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 1979/1989, estimated at $7000-10000, sold at $20320
The complete lot by lot results can be found here.
