Auction Results: Post-War and Contemporary Art, April 20, 2011 @Christie's South Kensington

Gabriel Orozco provided a welcome boost to an otherwise ordinary outcome at the PWCA sale at Christie's South Kensington last week. The Orozco (at right) sold for £63650 against an estimate of £3000-5000, more than 12X its high estimate. The rest of the photography performed adequately, with an overall Buy-In rate over 30% and
the Total Sale Proceeds for photography coming in near the top of the estimate range.

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

Total Lots: 43
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £222900
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £328800
Total Lots Sold: 29
Total Lots Bought In: 14
Buy In %: 32.56%
Total Sale Proceeds: £310425

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

Low Total Lots: 21
Low Sold: 15
Low Bought In: 6
Buy In %: 28.57%
Total Low Estimate: £68800
Total Low Sold: £114775

Mid Total Lots: 22
Mid Sold: 14
Mid Bought In: 8
Buy In %: 36.36%
Total Mid Estimate: £260000
Total Mid Sold: £195650

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 lot 38, Robert Gober, Untitled, 1988, at £18000-22000; it sold for £37250. The top outcome of the sale was lot 35, Gabriel Orozco, Breath on Piano, 1993, at £63650 (image at right, top, via Christie's).

100.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 4 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).

Lot 32, Marina Abramovic and Ulay, Relation in Space, 1977, at £39650
Lot 35, Gabriel Orozco, Breath on Piano, 1993, at £63650 (image at right, top, via Christie's)
Lot 57, Erwin Wurm, Cahors, Outdoor Sculpture, 2000-2001, £12500 (image at right, bottom, via Christie's)
Lot 224, Nan Goldin, Cookie in the NY inferno, 1985/1989, at £2375

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Christie's
85 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3LD