Phillips Editions & Works on Paper Auction Totals $1.44m

A work by Roy Lichtenstein was the headline sale at Phillips 'Editions & Works on Paper' auction on June 24 in New York.

• The sale totaled $1.44m, exceeding the pre-sale high estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 140 works sold totaling $1.44m.
• Estimates totaled: $783,500 (low) and $1.18m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 89% of the original 157 lots announced.

The star lot was: Roy Lichtenstein, I Love Liberty (1982), which sold for $212,900, 432% above its $40,000 low estimate. It has been traded once in the past.

The outperformer sold for 674% above its low estimate. Tom of Finland, Perfection (1991), sold for $7,740 ($1,000 low estimate).

• 73 works, or 52%, sold above their high estimate.
• 44 works, or 31%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 23 works, or 16%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

17 works were bought-in, including: Dan Flavin, Projects 1963-95 (1996), estimated at $10,000 (low) to $15,000 (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Withdrawn before the sale

0 works were withdrawn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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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