Mary Cassatt Leads Christie's $3m American Art Day Sale

A work by Mary Cassatt was the headline sale at Christie's 'COLLECTOR/CONNOISSEUR: The Max N. Berry Collections; American Art Day Sale' on January 23 in New York.

• The sale totaled $3.02m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 69 works sold totaling $3.02m.
• Estimates totaled: $2.1m (low) and $3.13m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 92% of the original 75 lots announced.

The star lot was: Mary Cassatt, Reine Lefebvre with Blond Baby and Sara Holding a Cat (1905), which sold for $177,800, 344% above its $40,000 low estimate. It has been traded 4 times in the past.

The outperformer sold for 958% above its low estimate. Jean Paul Selinger, Comet (Undated), sold for $63,500 ($6,000 low estimate). It has been traded 3 times in the past.

• 39 works, or 57%, sold above their high estimate.
• 17 works, or 25%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 13 works, or 19%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

6 works were bought-in, including: Rockwell Kent, Virgin Peaks, Tierra del Fuego (1922), estimated at $150,000 (low) to $250,000 (high). It has been traded 7 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Withdrawn before the sale

0 works were withdrawn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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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