Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Auction Results: Photographs, May 16, 2009 @Phillips London

While the material at Phillips' recent London Photographs sale was fresher and more contemporary than some of the other sales this season, the results were still in line with the prevailing market realities: a buy-in rate in the mid thirties and total proceeds under the total Low estimate. It seems cautious, conservative buyers continue to be the norm, regardless of the type of material on offer.

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

Total Lots: 170
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £1018700
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1462600

Total Lots Sold: 105
Total Lots Bought In: 65
Buy In %: 38.24%
Total Sale Proceeds: £868775

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

Low Total Lots: 77
Low Sold: 52
Low Bought In: 25
Buy In %: 32.47%
Total Low Estimate: £262600
Total Low Sold: £162250

Mid Total Lots: 87
Mid Sold: 49
Mid Bought In: 38
Buy In %: 43.68%
Total Mid Estimate: £880000
Total Mid Sold: £518025

High Total Lots: 6
High Sold: 4
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 33.33%
Total High Estimate: £320000
Total High Sold: £188500

90.48% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range, with 29.52% above. There were plenty of surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate), especially on the lower priced lots. These included:

Lot 13, Stephen Shore, West 9th Avenue, Amarillo, Texas, October, 2, 1974, at £15000
Lot 38, Richard Misrach, Fence, Bravo 20, Bombing range, 1987, at £4750
Lot 51, Daido Moriyama, Yokohama (Kanagawa), 1977, at £6500
Lot 52, Daido Moriyama, Yurakucho, 1976, at £5625
Lot 56, Miroslav Tichy, Untitled, 1950-1980, at £4750
Lot 57, Miroslav Tichy, Untitled, 1950-1980, at £5625
Lot 59, Miroslav Tichy, Untitled, 1950-1980, at £4375
Lot 61, Rankin, Heidi Klum, 2004 and Kate Moss, 2004, at £2250
Lot 106, Nick Knight, Devon, 1997, at £57650

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Phillips De Pury & Company
Howick Place
London SW1P 1BB

No comments: