Rafa Macarron Leads Phillips $1.7m 'Modern & Contemporary' Online Auction

A work by Rafa Macarron was the headline sale at Phillips 'Modern & Contemporary Art: Online Auction, New York' on December 12.

• The sale totaled $1.68m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 134 works sold totaling $1.68m.
• Estimates totaled: $1.32m (low) and $1.93m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 78% of the original 171 lots announced.

The star lot was: Rafa Macarron, Libre (2014), which sold for $88,900, 196% above its $30,000 low estimate. It has been traded once in the past.

The outperformer sold for 1551% above its low estimate. Damien Hirst, For Mr. D (SPIN Drawing) (2001), sold for $16,500 ($1,000 low estimate). It has not been traded before.

• 64 works, or 48%, sold above their high estimate.
• 40 works, or 30%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 30 works, or 22%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

35 works were bought-in, including: Imi Knoebel, Flag Diarylide (2016), estimated at $40,000 (low) to $60,000 (high). It has been traded once in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

2 works were withdrawn before the sale, including: Shirin Neshat, Untitled from the series Soliloquy (1999) estimated at $12,000 (low) to $18,000 (high).

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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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