Nord Wennerstrom was initially very excited for Sotheby’s out-of-schedule single-owner Old Master sale of the Weldon Collection. But when he saw the results, he was no longer in the same mood:

Ouch. After a promising start, which saw a small Averkamp winter scene hit it’s $1.5 million top estimate ($1,810,000 with fees), the rest of the sale was punctuated with torpor-inducing speed bumps. The top estimated lot by Sir Peter Paul Rubens Jan Breughel the Young failed to make it’s low estimate, hammering for $2.6 million ($3,130,000 with fees), a price matched by a Ludger tom Ring the Younger still life, and the Coorte shot up to $1.7 million ($2,050,000 with fees), but there was a fair bit of carnage, too.  The sale’s low estimate was $23,309,000 (which does not include the buyer’s fees) – the sale netted $18,218,000 – even with the addition of the buyer’s fees, the sale grossed $22,271,25.  The buy in rate was significant – 27 of 74 lots bombed, including a Frans Post Brazilian landscape (bidding stopped at $1.1 million, against an estimate of $1.5-2 million), while other lots sold well below estimate including a Jacob van Ruisdael Low Waterfall, which hammered at $750,000 (against an estimate of $1-1.5 million)

Low performing Sotheby’s sale of Dutch and Flemish Paintings from the Weldon Collection  (Nord on Art)