On Tuesday night, Phillips held a modern and contemporary art sale in Hong Kong that brought in a hammer total of HKD 405 million ($52.2 million), or HKD 492 with premium ($63.8 million). Staged in collaboration with the Chinese auction house Poly, it well exceeded its pre-sale low estimate of HKD 284 million ($36.6 million), which is calculated without the buyer’s premium.
The white-glove sale saw all 35 works sell, with just two lots withdrawn before the start of the sale. The strong result is 30 percent higher than the one generated by the first Phillips-Poly sale in December and double the $25.7 million made across 22 lots in last year’s equivalent Hong Kong sale in July.
Seven of the lots in this sale were guaranteed. Together, these lots had a collected low estimate of HKD 115 million ($14.8 million). Altogether, these works hammered above expectations at HKD 132 million ($18.15 million), accounting for 35 percent of the sale’s total.