Auction Results: The Delighted Eye, Modernist Masterworks from a Private Collection @Christie's New York

Led by a new world record price for Man Ray (at $1203750), the proceeds from Christie's single owner Carlos Cruz sale last week easily covered the aggregate High estimate. While the Buy-In rate was likely a bit higher than expected given the quality and rarity of the material on offer, it would be hard not to be satisfied with such a robust overall outcome.

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

Total Lots: 71
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $5069000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $7564000
Total Lots Sold: 54
Total Lots Bought In: 17
Buy In %: 23.94%
Total Sale Proceeds: $7654125

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

Low Total Lots: 2
Low Sold: 2
Low Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total Low Estimate: $16000
Total Low Sold: $18750

Mid Total Lots: 32
Mid Sold: 22
Mid Bought In: 10
Buy In %: 31.25%
Total Mid Estimate: $868000
Total Mid Sold: $723125

High Total Lots: 37
High Sold: 30
High Bought In: 7
Buy In %: 18.92%
Total High Estimate: $6680000
Total High Sold: $6912250

The top lot by High estimate was lot 7, Edward Weston, Nude, 1925, estimated at $400000-600000; it sold for $483750. The top outcome of the sale was lot 17, Man Ray, Untitled Rayograph, 1922, estimated at $250000-350000, sold at $1203750 (image at right, top, via Christie's).

88.89% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 6 surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 17, Man Ray, Untitled Rayograph, 1922, estimated at $250000-350000, sold at $1203750
Lot 35, Man Ray, Untitled, Cannes, 1924, estimated at $80000-120000, sold at $387750 (image at right, bottom, via Christie's)
Lot 36, Fortunato Depero, Message with Self Portraits, 1915, estimated at $50000-70000, sold at $159750
Lot 52, Georg Muche, Reflections in a Sphere, 1924, estimated at $15000-25000, sold at $75000
Lot 54, Paul Strand, Akeley Motion Picture Camera, New York, 1922, estimated at $250000-350000, sold at $783750 (image at right, middle, via Christie's)
Lot 58, Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Reflected Light Composition, 1923, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $46250

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Christie's
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020