Bonhams Northern Light Auction Totals $2.53m

A work by Edvard Munch was the headline sale at Bonhams 'Northern Light: Important Works from the Bjarne & Iwona Rieber Collection' auction on October 27 in London.

• The sale totaled $2.53m (GBP1.89m), falling short of its pre-sale low estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 30 works sold totaling $2.53m.
• Estimates totaled: $2.53m (low) and $3.66m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 67% of the original 45 lots announced.

The star lot was: Edvard Munch, Two Women on the Shore (Frauen am Meeresufer) (1898), which sold for $771,400, 16% above its $661,900 low estimate. It has not been traded before.

The outperformer sold for 721% above its low estimate. Thorvald Torgersen, Children on the shore (1931), sold for $21,700 ($2,648 low estimate).

• 15 works, or 50%, sold above their high estimate.
• 14 works, or 47%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 1 works, or 3%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

15 works were bought-in, including: Edvard Munch, Vampire II (Vampyr II) (1895), estimated at $264,800 (low) to $397,100 (high).

Withdrawn before the sale

0 works were withdrawn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. Estimates, sale prices and totals are converted into US dollars. 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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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.