Auction Results: Photographs, December 2, 2010 @Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury's various owner photographs sale in London last week struggled to find its bearings. With a Buy-In rate over 50% and Total Sale Proceeds meaningfully less than the Total Low Estimate, the auction house continues to search for the secrets of success in the lower end of the market. The vintage Erwin Blumenfeld prints on offer were generally a positive surprise, with 5 out 6 lots selling above their estimate ranges.

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

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Total Lots: 236

Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £236680

Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £335620

Total Lots Sold: 109

Total Lots Bought In: 127

Buy In %: 53.81%

Total Sale Proceeds: £174899

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

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Low Total Lots: 227

Low Sold: 105

Low Bought In: 122

Buy In %: 53.74%

Total Low Estimate: £271120

Total Low Sold: £148059

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Mid Total Lots: 9

Mid Sold: 4

Mid Bought In: 5

Buy In %: 55.56%

Total Mid Estimate: £64500

Total Mid Sold: £26840

High Total Lots: 0

High Sold: NA

High Bought In: NA

Buy In %: NA

Total High Estimate: £0

Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate was tied between two lots: lot 176, Horst P. Horst, Corset, Paris, 1939/Later, and lot 177, Horst P. Horst, Round the Clock I, 1987/Later, both at £8000-10000; neither print sold. The top outcome of the sale was lot 91, Erwin Blumenfeld, Veiled Beauty, c1931, at £9510.
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88.99% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were a total of 8 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

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Lot 38, Melcher Berretty, The Lido Nightclub in Paris, c1950s, at £317

Lot 87, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Untitled, c1970, at £6710

Lot 90, Pierre Boucher, Untitled (Paris), c1940, at £671

Lot 94, Erwin Blumenfeld, Untitled, c1940, at £6710 (image at right, middle, via Bloomsbury)

Lot 95, Erwin Blumenfeld, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, c1938, at £3416

Lot 96, Erwin Blumenfeld, Eyes Like the Sea, c1938, at £4636

Lot 97, Erwin Blumenfeld, Eyes of Youth, c1938, at £4880 (image at right, top, via Bloomsbury)

Lot 116, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin at the Lunar Module, 1969, at £1403 (image at right, bottom, via Bloomsbury)

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Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Bloomsbury Auctions

24 Maddox Street

Mayfair

London WS1 1PP