Auction Results: NOW, March 6, 2010 @Phillips New York

Last Saturday, Phillips began its 2010 series of themed sales with NOW: Art of the 21st Century. The top two photo lots failed to sell and the photo buy-in rate was up over 35%, together leading the total sale proceeds for photography to come in under the estimate range.

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

Total Lots: 80
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $403900
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $569900
Total Lots Sold: 50
Total Lots Bought In: 30
Buy In %: 37.50%
Total Sale Proceeds: $364251

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

Low Total Lots: 66
Low Sold: 41
Low Bought In: 25
Buy In %: 37.88%

Total Low Estimate: $276900
Total Low Sold: $192376

Mid Total Lots: 14
Mid Sold: 9
Mid Bought In: 5
Buy In %: 35.71%
Total Mid Estimate: $293000
Total Mid Sold: $171875

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

The top lots by High estimate were lot 205, Olafur Eliasson, Nine Works: Landscapes, 1995, and lot 158, Paul Pfeiffer, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 10, 2004, 2004, both at $30000-40000; both of these lots failed to sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 129, Marilyn Minter, Sparks, 2002, at $47500 (image at right, via Phillips).

84.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds above or in 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 12, Vik Muniz, Gummy Bears, 2002, at $13125

Lot 129, Marilyn Minter, Sparks, 2002, at $47500

Lot 130, Ryan McGinley, Laura (Thunderstorm), 2007, at $8125

Lot 131, Paul Rusconi, Untitled (Blue Kate), 2007, at $20000

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Phillips De Pury & Company
450 West 15th Street
New York, NY 10011