David Salle Leads Phillips $1.89m Online Auction

A work by David Salle was the headline sale at Phillips 'Modern & Contemporary Art: Online Auction, New York' on December 2-16 in New York.

• The sale totaled $1.89m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 166 works sold totaling $1.89m.
• Estimates totaled: $1.67m (low) and $2.43m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 84% of the original 197 lots announced.

The star lot was: David Salle, Tree of Life #22 (2021), which sold for $77,400, 29% above its $60,000 low estimate. It has been traded twice in the past.

The outperformer sold for 625% above its low estimate. Carroll Dunham, Untitled (2010), sold for $5,805 ($800 low estimate). It has not been traded before.

• 58 works, or 35%, sold above their high estimate.
• 55 works, or 33%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 53 works, or 32%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

30 works were bought-in, including: Mathias Goeritz, Mensaje (dorado) (1960), estimated at $30,000 (low) to $40,000 (high). It has been traded twice in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

1 work was withdrawn before the sale: Terry Winters, Untitled (1989) estimated at $3,000 (low) to $5,000 (high).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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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.