Calder Leads Sotheby's $104.8m Contemporary Day Auction in New York

A work by Alexander Calder, which had a guarantee, was the headline sale at Sotheby's 'Contemporary Day Auction' on November 19 in New York.

• The sale totaled $104.8m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 259 works sold totaling $104.8m.
• Estimates totaled: $76.8m (low) and $110.7m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 82% of the original 315 lots announced.

The star lot was: Alexander Calder, .125 (1956), which sold for $5.05m, 742% above its $600,000 low estimate. The work was backed by a guarantee. It has been traded twice in the past.

The outperformer sold for 1043% above its low estimate. Raqib Shaw, Collapse of the Cloud Kingdom I - Paradise Lost II (2011), sold for $342,900 ($30,000 low estimate). It has been traded twice in the past.

• 152 works, or 59%, sold above their high estimate.
• 69 works, or 27%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 38 works, or 15%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Auction record

Lilia Carrillo's Unidad que se dispersa (1968) sold for $101,600, a new record for the artist and a 15% increase on her previous record sale.

Guaranteed sales

66 works were backed by guarantees, including: Wayne Thiebaud, Four Sundaes (1963). It sold for $3.81m, 154% above its $1.5m low estimate.. It has been traded 4 times in the past.

Works that did not sell

53 works were bought-in, including: Ed Ruscha, Cosmo, Selma, Vine (2000), estimated at $1.5m (low) to $2m (high). It has been traded 4 times in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

3 works were withdrawn before the sale, including: Willem de Kooning, Untitled (1967) estimated at $700,000 (low) to $900,000 (high).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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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.