Auction Update Review
Another Busy Week
During the week just passed we archived
18 sales. This May will prove to be one
of the busiest in the long history of auctions for the books, manuscripts, maps
and ephemera fields. As of today we have
archived 67 sales and are covering 20 more that take place this week. This increase in sales occurs even as eBay’s auctions
of material in the field slow from a gallop to a trot as summer approaches.
Sales Archived by Week in May
5/1 14
5/8 13
5/15 22
5/22 18
5/29 20 projected
The previous high number of sales
archived in a single month was November 2009:
65. Measured in Dollars the fall
months remain the most important.
The auctions this week were robust
– eighteen sales in the United States and Europe denominated by currency: seven in Dollars, nine in Pounds, two in
Euros. Four thousand five hundred and
nineteen lots were offered and 3,486 sold for a 77% sales rate. These items had an aggregate high estimate of
$14,586,632 and realized $12,485,867 or 86% of the high.
Five of these sales reached or exceeded 100% of their aggregate high estimates:
Alain & Evelyne Morel de
Westgaver. Postcards Entiers Postaux
Prints & Books on May 14th: 166%;
Henri Godts. Books from the XVIth to the XXth Centuries on
May 17th: 142%;
Sotheby’s. Books and Manuscripts on May 18th: 138%;
Christie’s. Photographs on May 17th: 115%;
Sotheby’s. Copley – Lansing Notes on May 20th: 100%
Bidders appear to be ignoring
material that is over-estimated.
For the week ahead twenty sales are
scheduled:
Monday May 23rd: Ketterer
Kunst / D. Doerling: Books, MSS, Prints
[379a]
Ketterer Kunst /
F. Doerling: Rare Books, Manuscripts,
Autographs, Prints [379b]
Tuesday May 24th: Bubb Kuyper:
Books, Prints, Photos [54a]
Bubb
Kuyper: Books [54b]
Ketterer Kunst /
F Doerling: Rare Books, Manuscripts,
Autographs, Prints [379b continued]
Wed’day May 25th: Bubb Kuyper:
Books [54c]
Bubb
Kuyper: Books [54d]
Kapandji
Morhange: Books and Photos [15948]
Thursday May 26th: Ader:
Heugel’s Collection [16084]
Bloomsbury
Auctions: Important Books and
Manuscripts [35815]
Bubb Kuyper: Maps, Prints [54e]
Dorotheum: Autographs [8869]
Galerie
Bassange: Prints [97]
Keys
Fine Arts Auctioneers: Books, Day 1
[883]
Friday May 27th: Bubb Kuyper: Manuscripts, Autographs, Documents [54f]
Bubb
Kuyper: Prints [54g]
Galerie
Koller Auctions: Books, Prints [648]
Jeschke – van
vliet Buch and Kunstauktionen GmbH:
Valuable and Rare Books [74]
Saturday May 28th: Adams Amsterdam: Fine and Rare Books and Prints
It’s only spring but it already
feels like a busy year.
Bruce McKinney
AE
May 22, 2011