Auction Update Review

This week an auction every 6 hours and 13 minutes

For the week ending April 6th 15 auctions were archived to the AED; 8 in US dollars, 2 in British pounds, and 5 in euros.  Turnover was a brisk $27,563,384 earned on the sale of 3,245 lots, 76% of the 4,267 lots offered.  The market was firm.

 

Six sales reached the million-dollar level:

 

Christies.  Photographs and Modernist Masterworks [2767] on April 4th:  $7,654,125

Christies.  Photographs and Modern Masterworks [2691] on April 5th:  $7,245,375

Sotheby’s.  Photographs on April 6th:  $5,061,190

Sotheby’s.  The Modern Image:  Photographs from an Important American Collection on April 5th:  $2,544,376

Dorothy Sloan Rare Books.  Americana:  Texas, the West, Mexico & the Borderlands on April 4th:  $1,578,488

Bloomsbury Auctions.  Books, Manuscripts, Prints, Drawings and other Artworks on April 4th:  $1,305,407

 

Seven auctions saw their total sales exceed the total of their high estimates:

 

Cornette de Saint Cyr.  Private Sacha Guitry on March 28th:  254%

Neret – Minet & Tessier.  Books and Autographs on April 3rd:  244%

Bloomsbury Auctions.  Books, Manuscripts, Prints, Drawings and other Artworks on April 4th:  142%

Aguttes.  Prints and Photographs on April 3rd:  116%

Christies.  Photographs and Modern Masterworks [2691] on April 5th:  112%

Keys Fine Arts Auctioneers.  Books on March 21st:  106%

Christies.  Photographs and Modernist Masterworks [2767] on April 4th:  101%

 

Eight sales saw 80% or more of their lots sell:

 

Cornette de Saint Cyr.  Private Sacha Guitry on March 28th:  100%

Freeman’s.  Books, Manuscripts and Maps on April 4th:  90%

Heritage Auctions [HA.com] on April 4th:  89%

Aguttes.  Prints and Photographs on April 3rd:  116%

Bloomsbury Auctions.  Books, Manuscripts, Prints, Drawings and other Artworks on April 4th:  89%

Christies.  Photographs and Modern Masterworks [2691] on April 5th:  84%

Sotheby’s.  The Modern Image:  Photographs from an Important American Collection on April 5th:  83%

Freeman’s.  Posters and Other Graphics on April 5th:  80%

 

For the week ahead 27 sales are scheduled:

 

Mon. April 8th          Artcurial Briest-Le Fur-Poulain-F. Tajan.  Weapons and Historical Memories [20892].  7 lots

                                   Bruun Rasmussen.  Old Prints [1315a].  5 lots

                                    Doyle New York.  Photographs [40813].  519 lots

                                    Sothebys.  Collection de Nicholas Landau et Jacqueline Goldman [PF1336].  11 lots

 

Tues. April 9th              Bonhams.  20th Century Prints [21121].  103 lots

                                    Bruun Rasmussen.  Modern Prints [1315b].  61 lots

                                    Christies.  Books and Manuscripts [2706].  351 lots

                                    Piasa.  Ancient and Modern Books [20921].  319 lots

                                    Sothebys.  Collection de Nicholas Landau et Jacqueline Goldman [PF1336].  11 lots

 

Wed. April 10th          Bonhams.  Roy David’s Collection:  Part III:  Poetry [20922].  264 lots

                                    Christies.  Books and Manuscripts [2706].  351 lots

                                    Christies.  Prints [8623].  250 lots

                                    Christies.  Books and Manuscripts [2806].  3 lots

                                    Dominic Winter Book Auctions.  Printed Books and Maps [41013].  658 lots

                                    Heritage Auctions [Ha.com].  Rare Books [6094].  630 items.

                                    Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.  Fine Books and Manuscripts [239].  465 lots

 

Thurs. April 11th        Bloomsbury Auctions.  Horology and Science Books [36036].  169 lots

                                    Dominic Winter Book Auctions.  Private Collection of Mountaineering Books [41113].  418 lots

                                    Heritage Auctions [HA.com].  Historical Manuscripts [6093].  652 lots

                                    Heritage Auctions [Ha.com].  Illustration Art [5126].  856 lots

                                    Heritage Auctions [Ha.com].    Internet online bidding ended today [201315].  369 lots

                                    PBA Galleries.  South Sale:  The Library of Dr. Richard Topel, Part I [504].  364 lots

                                    Swann Galleries, Inc.  Fine Books, Including Incunabula [2309].  148 lots

                                   

Fri. April 12th             Dominic Winter Book Auctions.  Private Collection of Mountaineering Books [41113].  418 lots

                                    Heritage Auctions [Ha.com].  Illustration Art [5126].  856 lots

 

Sat. April 13th             Alde.  Beautiful and Modern Bindings [20985].  344 lots

 

Sun. April 14th           Bonhams.  Books, Prints [20943].  27 lots

 

It’s an important week.  Not so long ago extensive sales in a single week were rare.  These days they are becoming the norm.

 

Bruce McKinney

AE

April 15th, 2013

  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.