Andreas Gursky Leads Christie's $3.25m 'Photographs from the Collection of Ambassador Trevor Traina' Auction in New York

A work by Andreas Gursky was the headline sale at Christie's 'An Eye Towards the Real: Photographs from the Collection of Ambassador Trevor Traina' auction on October 2 in New York.

• The sale totaled $3.25m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 105 works sold totaling $3.25m.
• Estimates totaled: $2.7m (low) and $3.98m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 80% of the original 132 lots announced.

The star lot was: Andreas Gursky, *Dortmund * (2009), which sold for $352,800, 17% above its $300,000 low estimate. It has been traded once in the past.

The outperformer sold for 687% above its low estimate. Slim Aarons, Poolside Glamour (1970), sold for $63,000 ($8,000 low estimate).

• 40 works, or 38%, sold above their high estimate.
• 35 works, or 33%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 30 works, or 29%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Auction records

Larry Sultan's My Mother Posing for Me (1984, printed 2016) from the series "Pictures of Home", 1984 sold for $69,300, 44% above the photographer's previous record sale. Signed, number four from and editon of ten.

Alec Soth's Charles, Vasa, Minnesota (2002) sold for $201,600, seting a new auction record for the photographer, 32% above his previous record sale.

Slim Aarons' Poolside Glamour (1970) sold for $63,000, 56% above the photographer's previous record sale. Signed, number 92 from an edition of 150.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

27 works were bought-in, including: Thomas Struth, *El Capitan, Yosemite National Park * (1999), estimated at $180,000 (low) to $220,000 (high). It has been traded 3 times in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

0 works were withdrawn

Terms and definitions

All results include the fees and premiums added to the price of a work of art when the auctioneer's hammer falls. Sale prices are compared to the auction house’s low estimate, which do not include premiums.

Guarantees: Sometimes an auction house guarantees to pay a seller for a work, regardless of whether the bidding reaches the reserve price, a figure that is typically confidential.

Bought-in: If there are no bids for a work, or if bidding falls short of the reserve price, the lot is unsold or “bought-in”.

Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.

Premiums: Typically a sliding-scale of charges paid in addition to the hammer price by the buyer, plus any other fees.