Auction Results: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, October 14 and 15, 2010 @Christie's King Street

Christie's had a strong response to the photography buried in its two Frieze week Contemporary Art sales in London last week. The seven top lots by High estimate all found buyers, and the Total Sale Proceeds came in solidly above the high end of the range.

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

Total Lots: 40
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £1179500
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1714500
Total Lots Sold: 30
Total Lots Bought In: 10
Buy In %: 25.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: £1854375

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
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Low Total Lots: 5
Low Sold: 3
Low Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 40.00%
Total Low Estimate: £20500
Total Low Sold: £13250

Mid Total Lots: 18
Mid Sold: 14
Mid Bought In: 4
Buy In %: 22.22%
Total Mid Estimate: £254000
Total Mid Sold: £238475

High Total Lots: 17
High Sold: 13
High Bought In: 4
Buy In %: 23.53%
Total High Estimate: £1440000
Total High Sold: £1602650

The top lot by High estimate was lot 21, Gilbert & George, Frozen Youth, 1982, at £250000-350000; it sold for £241250. The top outcome of the sale was lot 3, Andreas Gursky, New York, Stock Exchange, 1991, at £433250, against an estimate of £100000-150000. (Image at right, top, via Christie's.)

96.67% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were a total of two surprises in these sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 3, Andreas Gursky, New York, Stock Exchange, 1991, at £433250

Lot 297, Roman Opalka, Opalka details (eight parts), 1965, at £97250 (image at right, bottom, via Christie's)

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

Christie's
8 King Street, St. James's

London SW1Y 6QT