Auction Results: Photographs, May 10, 2011 @Bonhams

In terms of generating solid results in an auction, there's nothing like selling 24 out of the top 25 lots you have available. Bonhams did just that in its recent Photographs sale in New York, led by a long string of Sugimoto prints that all found buyers. Overall, the Buy-In rate was nicely below 20% and the Total Sale Proceeds bumped up against the High end of the range.

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

Total Lots: 170
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $871000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $1283600
Total Lots Sold: 140
Total Lots Bought In: 30
Buy In %: 17.65%
Total Sale Proceeds: $1204018
.

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

Low Total Lots: 139
Low Sold: 111
Low Bought In: 28
Buy In %: 20.14%
Total Low Estimate: $673600
Total Low Sold: $536068

Mid Total Lots: 31
Mid Sold: 29
Mid Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 6.45%
Total Mid Estimate: $610000
Total Mid Sold: $667950

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 122, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Colors of Shadow C1018, 2006, and lot 123, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Colors of Shadow C1027, 2006, both at $30000-50000; lot 122 sold for $30500 and lot 123 sold for $24400. The top outcome of the sale was lot 101, Irving Penn, Alfred Hitchcock, New York, May 23, 1947/1955, at $54900.

75.00% 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 70, Lucien Clergue, Picasso a la Cigarette a la Californie, Cannes, 1956/1977, at $6710
Lot 93, Flor Garduno, Basket of Light, Sumpango, Guatelmala, 1989/1993, at $4270 (image at right, bottom, via Bonhams)
Lot 101, Irving Penn, Alfred Hitchcock, New York, May 23, 1947/1955, at $54900 (image at right, top, via Bonhams)
Lot 110, Richard Avedon, Humphrey Bogart, Actor, New York, 1953/1970, at $30500 (image at right, middle, via Bonhams)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Bonhams
580 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022