Auction Results: Photographs, May 18, 2010 @Bonhams

Bonhams had a bit of a rough outing at its Photographs sale in New York earlier this week. With a buy-in rate approaching 50% and total sale proceeds that missed the low by a wide margin, there isn't much excitement to be found these results. Nearly a third of the lots that did sell came in under their estimate ranges, and there were only two positive surprises in the whole sale.

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

Total Lots: 132
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $722500
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $1039550
Total Lots Sold: 70
Total Lots Bought In: 62
Buy In %: 46.97%
Total Sale Proceeds: $481290

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

Low Total Lots: 112
Low Sold: 61
Low Bought In: 51
Buy In %: 45.54%
Total Low Estimate: $545550
Total Low Sold: $247660

Mid Total Lots: 19
Mid Sold: 8
Mid Bought In: 11
Buy In %: 57.89%
Total Mid Estimate: $439000
Total Mid Sold: $184830

High Total Lots: 1
High Sold: 1
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total High Estimate: $55000
Total High Sold: $48800

The top lot by High estimate was lot 100, Richard Avedon, Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent, 1981, at $35000-55000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $48800.

Only 67.14% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 2 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 76, Danny Lyon, Highway 49 from Jackson to Yazoo City, the Entrance to the Delta, 1964/1968, at $4880 (image at right, via Bonhams)
Lot 79, William Garnett, Train Crossing Desert near Kelso, California, 1974, at $13420 (image at right, top, via Bonhams)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Bonhams
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New York, NY 10022