Auction Update Review
The Auctions at Full Tilt
For the week ending Saturday April
28, 2012 18 auctions were archived; 3 in British pounds, 5 in euros, and ten in
US dollars. Six thousand one hundred and
eighty-five lots were offered and 4,851 sold for a 78% success rate. Total sales were $26,688,451 or 81% of the
total of the high estimates of all lots offered. The sell-through continues to be strong
although there was some evidence that expensive material did less well. It’s assumed that many dealers and buyers
were preoccupied with the New York Antiquarian Book Fair and probably somewhat
depleted by the extremely busy auction schedule. The truth is that the high rollers have been
in the high cotton all month.
Five sales reached or exceeded 100%
of the total of their high estimates:
Alde. Letters and Manuscripts on April 19th: 148%
Ferraton. Books and Prints, First Vacances on April 20th: 148%
Ferraton. Books and Prints, Second Vacances on April 21st: 139%
Henri Godts. Books from the 16th to the 20th
Century on April 24th: 126%
Christie’s. Travel, Science and Natural History on April
25th: 112%
The following sales reached or
exceeded one million dollars:
Sotheby’s. Prints on April 26th: $9,043,000
Christie’s. Prints and Multiples on April 24th: $7,442,150
Swann Galleries. Old Master through Modern Prints on April 25th: $2,280,786
Doyle New York. Books, Photographs, and Prints on April 23rd: $1,692,301
For the week ahead 11 sales are
scheduled:
Tuesday May 1st Bonhams.
Prints [19984]. 326 lots.
Heritage
Auctions. Photographs [5098]. 192 lots
Wednesday May 2nd Dorotheum.
Prints before 1900 [9479]. 67
lots
Lyon
and Turnbull. Rare Books, Maps and
Manuscripts [346]. 352 lots
Thursday May 3rd Antiquarian Auctions. Rare Books – Online bidstart 4/26 [18]. 521 items
Bloomsbury
Auctions. Angling Collection of George
Miskin [35922]. 407 lots
Dorotheum. Art Photography [9480]. 260 items
Heritage
Auctions. Rare Books and Autographs –
Internet bidstart 4/26 [201218]. 386
lots
Leslie
Hindman. Old Masters, Modern and
Contemporary Prints [198]. 213 lots
Sotheby’s. From the Collection of Prince and Princess
Henry de la Tour D’Auvergne Lauaguais [L12308].
220 lots
Sunday May 6th National Book Auctions. Books and Ephemera – Whistler, Einstein,
World’s Fairs, etc. [50612] 381 lots
The market has been running at a
fiendish pace and has been due for a slow down.
Enjoy the break. Twenty sales are
scheduled for the next week May - 7th to 13th.
Bruce McKinney
AE
Sunday April 29th, 2012