Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Auction Results: First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art, September 23, 2009 @Christie's

Christie's got off to a good start this auction season with a solid outcome in its First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art sale last week. The photography in the sale generally performed well, with a low overall buy-in rate and Total Sale Proceeds within the range, albeit on the low side. A broader wrap-up article, covering the entire sale, can be found here.

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

Total Lots: 20
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $256000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $371000
Total Lots Sold: 17
Total Lots Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 15.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: $263125

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

Low Total Lots: 4
Low Sold: 4
Low Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total Low Estimate: $31000
Total Low Sold: $51250

Mid Total Lots: 15
Mid Sold: 12
Mid Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 20.00%
Total Mid Estimate: $280000
Total Mid Sold: $161875

High Total Lots: 1
High Sold: 1
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total High Estimate: $60000
Total High Sold: $50000

82.35% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There was only one surprise in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 1, Gerhard Richter, Guildenstern, 1998, at $20000

The top lot by High estimate was Lot 91, John Bock, Untitled, 2000, at $40000-60000, and it was the top outcome of the sale at $50000.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Christie's
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

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