Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Auction Results: Photobooks, May 19, 2009 @Christie's London

Given the current consistency of the secondary market for photography, these results posts are starting to sound like a broken record. The key measurements from Christie's recent Photobooks auction in London once again fell within a surprisingly narrow window: a mid thirties buy in rate and total proceeds less than the total Low estimate. The only difference here is that the outcomes got softer as the prices got higher, in this case likely representing a decreasing number of buyers for the rarest and most expensive volumes.

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

Total Lots: 191
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £385100
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £558900

Total Lots Sold: 120
Total Lots Bought In: 71
Buy In %: 37.17%
Total Sale Proceeds: £285572

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

Low Total Lots: 172
Low Sold: 111
Low Bought In: 60
Buy In %: 34.88%
Total Low Estimate: £298900
Total Low Sold: £219322

Mid Total Lots: 17
Mid Sold: 8
Mid Bought In: 9
Buy In %: 52.94%
Total Mid Estimate: £165000
Total Mid Sold: £66250

High Total Lots: 2
High Sold: 0
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 100.00%
Total High Estimate: £95000
Total High Sold: £0

97.50% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range, with 36.67% above. There were a total of three surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate): lot 50, Emile Allais, Methode francaise du ski, 1948, at £1125, lot 82, Ed Ruscha, Various Small Fires and Milk, 1964 at £3750, and lot 126, Workshop Collective, Workshop 1-8, 1974-1976, at £8750.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Christie's
85 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3LD

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