E-Photo
Issue #13  3/15/2000
 
Results From Phillips Weegee Sale

By Alex Novak

I didn't get a chance to get over to the Phillips Weegee sale on January 31, but they did very well on some images at an auction that brought in nearly $300,000, even though buy-ins were rather high.  This was the first such "solo" sale of Weegee material.

A photograph of "Mayor Laguardia in Police Station" was the top single lot of the sale. After active bidding on the phones and in the room, the 1940s print realized $16,675, well over its pre-auction estimate of $3,000/5,000.

Other individual prints that got an enthusiastic response include "School Is Over", a print of children playing in the school ground, which exceeded its pre-sale estimate and brought $12,075 and "Clowns In Dressing Room," a warm-toned 1940s silver print, which also commanded a premium price of $12,075.

A portfolio of 49 photographs by Weegee, printed by Sidney Kaplan in 1981 was another headliner. The portfolio, which was in perfect condition, brought what seemed to most to be a very high $63,000, about double what most observers felt would be a good price.

I talked with Henry Feldstein ("Mr. Weegee", as many in the trade refer to him) about the sale. 

Feldstein says,  "It was a very successful sale considering there weren't many of the top 20 Weegees in the sale."  In fact, he points out, "The sale would have done even better, but there were only four or five great Weegees and a lot of lower material."

Felstein attributes the relatively high buy-in rate to "reserves that were just too high for low-end material."  As he notes, "The great material did indeed do great; the good material did ok and the lower end got bought in, although there were reportedly lots of after-auction sales."

Phillips will skip the spring photo auction this time out and return in the fall, according to their spokesperson.

Novak has over 47 years experience in the photography-collecting arena. He is a long-time member and formally board member of the Daguerreian Society, and, when it was still functioning, he was a member of the American Photographic Historical Society (APHS). He organized the 2016 19th-century Photography Show and Conference for the Daguerreian Society. He is also a long-time member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers, or AIPAD. Novak has been a member of the board of the nonprofit Photo Review, which publishes both the Photo Review and the Photograph Collector, and is currently on the Photo Review's advisory board. He was a founding member of the Getty Museum Photography Council. He is author of French 19th-Century Master Photographers: Life into Art.

Novak has had photography articles and columns published in several newspapers, the American Photographic Historical Society newsletter, the Photograph Collector and the Daguerreian Society newsletter. He writes and publishes the E-Photo Newsletter, the largest circulation newsletter in the field. Novak is also president and owner of Contemporary Works/Vintage Works, a private photography dealer, which sells by appointment and has sold at exhibit shows, such as AIPAD New York and Miami, Art Chicago, Classic Photography LA, Photo LA, Paris Photo, The 19th-century Photography Show, Art Miami, etc.