Phillips Carries the Editions Momentum into 2022 with $6.8m Sale

Phillips posted another strong sale of editioned works in London this week with 349 lots offered in day and evening sales for a total of £5,047,560. The $6.8 million total exceeds the pre-sale low estimate by 75%. That represents a dynamic score (or hammer ratio) of 1.87, a red-hot indicator. The company says that’s the highest total achieved for an editions sale in London in the company’s history. 

Editioned works were up 46% in 2021. That would seem to leave little room for the market to continue to advance. Phillips has responded by revising estimates toward the new market reality. In this week’s sales, the estimates held up reasonably well. A full 60% of the lots were sold within the estimate range. Only 11% were sold at prices below the low estimate and another 15% of the lots surpassed their estimates. 

This week’s success was driven by sales of prints by Banksy, Andy Warhol and David Hockney. Andy Warhol’s print of Queen Elizabeth II made in 1985 was the top lot at £352,800. Banksy’s Kate Moss print riffing on one of Andy Warhol’s most famous images sold for £239,400, while an example of Warhol’s print made £207,900 during the same sale. All three sales were record prices for examples of these editions.

Other editioned works that exceeded expectations were Mr.’s Whereabouts of the Heart of the Day, estimated at £1000 and sold for a premium price of £17,640. William Copley’s Man and Woman was offered at an attractive £200 but sold for £3024. Takashi Murakami’s Open Your Hands Wide was bid up 10 times the low estimate of £1000.

Bidding didn’t only seek out overlooked artists. An Andy Warhol Campbell’s soup can was estimated at £15,000 and sold for £132,300. A Damien Hirst work was estimated at £4000, but the bidding ended at £27,720.