Auction Results: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, June 25 and 26, 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 driven down by the failure of the two top photo lots to find buyers. With an overall Buy-In rate under 14%, we might have expected the Total Sale Proceeds to cover the top end of the range; as it was, they fell meaningfully below the low end.

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

Total Lots: 22
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £734000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1068000
Total Lots Sold: 19
Total Lots Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 13.64%
Total Sale Proceeds: £552500

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

Low Total Lots: 1
Low Sold: 1
Low Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total Low Estimate: £5000
Total Low Sold: £9375

Mid Total Lots: 14
Mid Sold: 13
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 7.14%
Total Mid Estimate: £218000
Total Mid Sold: £216125

High Total Lots: 7
High Sold: 5
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 28.57%
Total High Estimate: £845000
Total High Sold: £327000

The top lot by High estimate was lot 21, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Our prices are insane!), 1997, at £200000-300000; it did not sell. The top photography outcome of the two sales was lot 251, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your life is a perpetual insomnia!), 1984, estimated at £60000-80000, sold at £127875 (image at right, top, via Christie's).

89.47% 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 285, Andreas Gursky, Gelsenkirchen, Ratingen, Moers, 1988, estimated at £8000-12000, sold at £27500 (image at right, bottom, 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