Auction Results: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, February 13 and 14, 2013 @Christie's London

The results for the photography included in Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day sales in London last week were meaningfully better than expected. With the Buy-In rate for photography under 7 percent and all five photography lots in the Evening sale finding buyers at prices above their estimates, it comes as no surprise that the Total Sale Proceeds for photography easily exceeded the high end of the range.

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

Total Lots: 43
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £2268500
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £3182000
Total Lots Sold: 40
Total Lots Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 6.98%
Total Sale Proceeds: £3962071

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

Low Total Lots: 3
Low Sold: 3
Low Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total Low Estimate: £10000
Total Low Sold: £6688

Mid Total Lots: 19
Mid Sold: 19
Mid Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total Mid Estimate: £267000
Total Mid Sold: £384575

High Total Lots: 21
High Sold: 18
High Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 14.29%
Total High Estimate: £2905000
Total High Sold: £3570808

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 11, Gilbert & George, Dead Boards No. 11, 1976, at £350000-450000; it was also the top photography outcome of the two sales, at £601250.

95.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There was only one surprise in these sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 225, Sol LeWitt, Manhattan with Roosevelt Island Removed, 1978, estimated at £5000-7000, sold at £23750 (image at right, top, 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