Around cocktail hour on Tuesday, Phillips hosted its annual November modern and contemporary art evening sale in New York, which may have been more memorable for a brief cameo by the FDNY and an unsold Basquiat than for its sales. Regardless, the evening brought in a decent chunk of change for the auction house that perennially earns the bronze medal. Let’s take a look at the rough outline of the action, by the numbers.
Total Sales After Fees: $54.1 million
Total Sales of Equivalent Sale Last Year: $69.9 million
Hammer Total: $44.2 million
Top Seller: Jackson Pollock, Untitled, circa 1948 which sold for $13 million.
Lots on Offer: 33
Lots Withdrawn: 3
Lots Sold: 25
Lots Bought In: 5
Sell-through Rate: 75.6 percent
Sell-through Rate After Withdrawals: 83.3 percent
Presale Low Estimate: $60.1 million
Hammer Total vs. Presale Low Estimate: -$15.9 million
Lots Guaranteed: 11
Lots With House Guarantees: 0
Lots With Third-Party Guarantees: 11
Total Low Estimate of Withdrawn Lots: $2.9 million
Total Low Estimate of Third-Party Guaranteed Lots: $32.9 million
Lasting Memory: It was announced in the room that Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Self-Portrait (1983) had sold for a hammer price of $9.3 million, just under its low estimate of $10 million. But later in the night, an email was sent to press stating that the piece did not sell, after all, and had passed, presumably because it did not meet its reserve.
