Auction Results: Photographs, April 6, 2011 @Sotheby's

Sotheby's began the spring Photographs season in New York with a resounding, optimistic bang. It was a broad based success story, with strength across all price ranges, lots of positive surprises and a solid Buy-In rate (under 20%). Overall, the Total Sale Proceeds covered the high end of the range by more than $1.2 million dollars.

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

Total Lots: 174
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $2878000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $4339000
Total Lots Sold: 141
Total Lots Bought In: 33
Buy In %: 18.97%
Total Sale Proceeds: $5632188
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Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 64

Low Sold: 49

Low Bought In: 15

Buy In %: 23.44%

Total Low Estimate: $545000
Total Low Sold: $553438
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Mid Total Lots: 97
Mid Sold: 81
Mid Bought In: 16
Buy In %: 16.49%
Total Mid Estimate: $2329000
Total Mid Sold: $2834375

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High Total Lots: 13

High Sold: 11
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 15.38%
Total High Estimate: $1465000
Total High Sold: $2244375

The top lot by High estimate was lot 111, Richard Avedeon, Avedon/Paris (portfolio), 1978, at $150000-250000; it sold for $314500. The top outcome of the sale was lot 92, Man Ray, Untitled (Photomontage with Nude and Studio Light), 1933, at $410500 (image at right, top, via Sotheby's)

89.36% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 27 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 2, Ansel Adams, Moon and Clouds, Northern California, 1959/1970, at $31250

Lot 14, Edward Weston, Bad Water - Death Valley, 1938, at $50000

Lot 15, Edward Weston, Tomato Field, Big Sur, 1937, at $50000

Lot 19, Ansel Adams, Sand Dunes, Sunrise, Death Valley, National Monument, CA, 1948/1977, at $31250

Lot 32, Baron Adolf De Meyer, Dolores, 1919, at $50000

Lot 33, Paul Strand, Selected Images from Camera Work No. 48, 1915/1916, at $31250

Lot 41, Mathew Brady, John C. Calhoun, 1849, at $338500 (image at right, bottom, via Sotheby's)

Lot 42, Timothy O'Sullivan, Ancient Ruins in the Canon de Chelle, NM, 1873, at $134500 (image at right, middle, via Sotheby's)

Lot 44, Ansel Adams, Portrait of Alfred Stieglitz, 1940, at $25000

Lot 45, Helen Levitt, New York (Children with Broken Mirror), 1940, at $34375

Lot 46, Frederick Evans, Aubrey Beardsley, 1895, at $50000

Lot 54, Walker Evans, Alabama Schoolhouse, 1936/1950s, at $40625

Lot 58, Harry Callahan, Torn Sign, 1946, at $62500

Lot 81, Constantin Brancusi/Wayne Miller, Triptych, 1920-1945/1948, at $31250

Lot 82, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare St. Lazare, 1932/Later, at $18750

Lot 92, Man Ray, Untitled (Photomontage with Nude and Studio Light), 1933, at $410500 (image at right, top, via Sotheby's)

Lot 96, Jaromir Funke, Composition (from Abstraktni Foto), 1929, at $350500

Lot 110, William Eggleston, Memphis, Krystal, 1984-85, at $18750

Lot 121, Richard Misrach, Palm Tree, California, 1975/Later, at $20000

Lot 122, Francesca Woodman, From Portrait of a Reputation, 1975-76, at $25000

Lot 123, Francesca Woodman, Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island, 1975-76, at $20000

Lot 131, Helmut Newton, Elsa Peretti, Bunny, 1975/1981, at $62500

Lot 139, Peter Beard, Kenya Caracals @Warden Woodley's Tsavo Hdqutrs, 1984, at $43750

Lot 140, Peter Beard, Selected Studies in Mixed Media, 1960s/Later, at $34375

Lot 147, Peter Beard, Amboseli Elephants (Tsavo Before the Die-Off, Tsavo North), 1965/1989, at $56250

Lot 154, Irving Penn, Still Life with Watermelon (New York), 1947/1985, at $104500
Lot 161, Robert Mapplethorpe, Silver Dollar, 1988, at $20000

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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