Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Auction Results: Post-War and Contemporary Art, June 30 and July 1, 2009 @Christie's London

The Spring season for Contemporary Art in London finished up last week with a pair of sales at Christie's. The total photography proceeds for the two sales covered the total Low estimate, carried by the top four photo lots (which all sold), thereby masking some weakness in the rest of the sale. The overall buy-in rate was surprisingly high (50.00%), given tighter controls on consignments.

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

Total Lots: 28
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £835000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1174000

Total Lots Sold: 14
Total Lots Bought In: 14
Buy In %: 50.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: £873600

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

Low Total Lots: 0
Low Sold: NA
Low Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total Low Estimate: £0
Total Low Sold: NA

Mid Total Lots: 19
Mid Sold: 8
Mid Bought In: 11
Buy In %: 57.89%
Total Mid Estimate: £269000
Total Mid Sold: £82500

High Total Lots: 9
High Sold: 6
High Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 33.33%
Total High Estimate: £905000
Total High Sold: £791100

92.86% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were no surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).

The top lot by High estimate (across the two sales) was lot 12, Andreas Gursky, Copan, 2002, which sold for £241250, against an estimate of £250000-350000. It was equalled by lot 34, Gilbert & George, Spitalfields, 1980, also at £241250, against an estimate of £100000-150000.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).

Christie's
8 King Street, St. James's
London SW1Y 6QT

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