Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Auction Results: Photography, June 17, 2009 @Bassenge

The last of the German photography sales happened two weeks ago at Bassenge, and the results were generally below the range of outcomes that have characterized the entire spring season. In this case, the buy in rate was a bit higher than average (above 45%) and the total proceeds were well under half the total High estimate.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the 16% buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 458
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 537890€

Total Lots Sold: 250
Total Lots Bought In: 208
Buy In %: 45.41%
Total Sale Proceeds: 223350€

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

Low Total Lots: 448
Low Sold: 247
Low Bought In: 201
Buy In %: 44.87%
Total Low Estimate: 400890€
Total Low Sold: 237974€

Mid Total Lots: 10
Mid Sold: 3
Mid Bought In: 7
Buy In %: 70.00%
Total Mid Estimate: 137000€
Total Mid Sold: 21112€

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: 0€
Total High Sold: NA

Only 36.80% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range, so there was quite a bit of bottom feeding going on in this sale. That said, there were a total of twenty surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 4217, Scowen & Co, Ceylon, 1870s at 2900€
Lot 4221, Johann F.W.T. Roux, Daguerrotypes,1850s at 1508€
Lot 4227, C. Nieuwenhuis, Dutch India, 1880s at 1044€
Lot 4228, Zangaki Brothers, East Africa, 1880s at 1972€
Lot 4229, Maison Bonfils, Egypt/Palestine/Lebanon, 1880s at 1508€
Lot 4278, Sebah & Joaillier, Travel Albums, 1870s at 2784€
Lot 4279, Maison Bonfils, Travel Albums, 1880s at 1740€
Lot 4285, Woodbury & Page, Studio, 1860s at 4060€
Lot 4286, Woodbury & Page, Alfurs of the Moluccan Islands, 1870s at 3016€
Lot 4310, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Water Tower, 1960s/later at 2552€
Lot 4548, August Sander, City Children, Cologne, 1930/1960s at 1508€
Lot 4557, Toni Schneiders, Country Road in Austria, 1950s at 1276€
Lot 4579, Alfred Stieglitz, Horses, 1904 at 2204€
Lot 4593, Josef Sudek, Female Nudes, 1953 at 4176€
Lot 4607, Unknown, Aerial view of Manhattan at night, 1930s at 1392€
Lot 4613, Giorgio Sommer, Vesuvius Eruption, 1906 at 1740€
Lot 4642, Alois Auer, Der polygraphische Apparatat, 1853 at 638€
Lot 4646, Jules Bernard Luys, Les Èmotions chez les sujets, 1887, at 1392€
Lot 4647, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Les Europeens, 1955 at 696€
Lot 4649, Greg Gorman, Inside Life, 1997 at 638€

The top lot, lot 4560, Sean Scully, Mérida, 2001, with an estimate of 30000€, did not sell. Lot 4510, Floris M. Neusüss, Nudogram of pregnant woman, 1967, was the top seller at 8700€.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here. I have grossed up the results in this post to reflect the addition of the buyer's premium.

Galerie Bassenge
Erdener Straße 5a
14193 Berlin-Grunewald

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