February 27^th, 2011

Ten sales this past continue to show that the heart keeps beating.  Henri Godts and Alde in continental Europe and Bonhams in the United Kingdom exceeded their aggregate high estimates for material in the books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera category.  Henri Godts reached 151% of their aggregate high estimate, Alde 145% for one of its two sales, and Bonhams 108%.  Reaching 100% of the high estimate requires intelligent consignors, careful estimating and substantial promotion.   Henri Godts’ sale was uploaded with images into the AE auction search and has been displayed on the home page for two weeks.  They worked hard to do this and earned the success they achieved this past week.  Anymore it takes more than good material to get a good result.

PBA has also been displaying images with their sales for the past month and their percentage of lots sold has been climbing.  The recent tone of the ABAA fair in San Francisco was cautious and that sentiment seems to have affected PBA's most recent outcome.  They are nevertheless promoting in an effective way.

This week Heritage's next sale was uploaded with images.   Their lots and all others are searchable in the upcoming auction search.  Heritage’s images are also cycling on the home page.

We are continuing to see substantial sign-ups for the new tracking feature.  A positive impact on prices at auction and transactions in Books for Sale seem inevitable.

The market since Christmas has generally been tough but there is gathering evidence that we are beginning to consolidate the market.

Bruce McKinney
AE