Auction Results: First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art, March 11, 2010 @Christie's New York

In contrast to the lackluster performance at Sotheby's a few days earlier, the results for the photography lots at Christie's First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art sale were stellar. With a buy-in rate less than 10% and some help from Barbara Kruger, the total sale proceeds for photography soared well above the estimate range.

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

Total Lots: 22
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $558000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $792000
Total Lots Sold: 20
Total Lots Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 9.09%
Total Sale Proceeds: $895375

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 %: 0.00%
Total Low Estimate: $35000
Total Low Sold: $92500

Mid Total Lots: 15
Mid Sold: 13
Mid Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 13.33%
Total Mid Estimate: $397000
Total Mid Sold: $339375

High Total Lots: 3
High Sold: 3
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total High Estimate: $360000
Total High Sold: $463500

There were three lots tied for the top photography lot by High estimate: lot 13, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #194, 1980, at $90000-120000, which sold for $98500; lot 17, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your every wish is our command), 1982, at $80000-120000, which was the top outcome of the sale and sold for $278500 (image at right, via Christie's); and lot 105, Chuck Close, Nat (Five color studies), 1971, at $80000-120000, which sold for $86500.

90.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of four surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 2, Gerhard Richter, Guildenstern, 1998, at $25000
Lot 17, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your every wish is our command), 1982, at $278500
Lot 50, Lucas Samaras, Photo-Transformations, 1973-1976, at $32500
Lot 110, Thomas Struth, Grab von Lu Xun, Shanghai, 1997, at $25000

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Christie's
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020