Phillips "Contemporary Art Evening Sale" this November in New York achieved a Total Hammer Price (HP) of $97 million, just under its initial Total Lower Estimate (LE) of $98 million.

While Phillips reached an impressive sale-through rate of 92% in the current market environment with only 3 lots bought-in, the majority of the lots (59%) sold for a Hammer Price (HP) just equal to their Low Estimate (LE) or under their LE (24% had HP equal to their LE while 35% obtained HP lower than their LE). This includes the star lot "Düsenjäger" by Gerhard Richter, which sold for a Hammer Price of $24m (just under its LE of $25m) to its Third Party Guarantor.

Among the 30% lots that successfully over performed (with a HP superior to their LE), one should notice Mark Grotjahn’s "Untitled" work, which sold for 2 times its Low Estimate.

Interestingly, as a group, artworks with Irrevocable Bids ended up with a Total Hammer Price almost equal to their Total Low Estimates (100.4%), simingly indicating that collectors may not like to bid on artworks on which others provided an Irrevocable bid.