Auction Update Review

The Bacchanal ahead of summer

For the week ending Saturday May 24th 38 auctions were archived to the AED, 16 in euros, 7 in British pounds, and 15 in US dollars.  Sales reached $35,042,918 as 11,270 lots were offered and 8,883 sold for a 79% success rate.  Such strong reporting weeks are rare but becoming increasingly common.  The auction market is moving with authority.

<--- Skinner.  Books & Manuscripts.  Sale 2730B in Boston on May 31st.  Lot 147 - Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790) Experiments and Observations on Electricity. London: for David Henry, sold by Francis Newbery, 1769.  Estimate $3,000-$5,000

4 auctions saw their total proceeds reach a million dollars: 

Sothebys. Contemporary Art - Prints on May 15th: $8,224,250
Heritage Auctions. Comics on May 17th: $4,887,141
Sothebys. Music and Continental Books and Manuscripts on May 20th: $3,919,789
Christies. Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts on May 21st: $3,111,375

<--- Keys Fine Arts.  Books Day 1.  Lot 818:  Thomas Telford, James Douglas, Ralph Dodd, George Dance and William Jessop.  The Several Plans and Drawings . . . upon the improvement of the Port of London, 1800.  Estimated BP 800-1,000

8 auctions saw total sales exceed 100% of the high estimates of all lots offered in the sale:

Beaussant Lefevre. Prints on May 16th: 761.07%
Profiles in History. DEBBIE REYNOLDS – THE AUCTION FINALE - Ephemera on May 17th: 241.62%
Bonhams. Scientific Instruments - Globes on May 20th: 187.96%
Ader. Modern and Contemporary Prints on May 16th: 157.92%
Ader. Ancient and Modern Prints on May 15th: 152.31%
Doyle New York. Prints on May 21st: 137.45%
Guillaumot Richard . Hunting Library of Mr. E. B Château de La Palisse in Allier on May 10th: 127.13%
Bruun Rasmussen. Old Master Prints on May 19th: 110.59%

13 sales saw at least 80% of their lots sell:

Beaussant Lefevre. Prints on May 16th: 100.00%
Heritage Auctions. Comics -Internet bidstart 5/11 on May 18th: 99.88%
Heritage Auctions. Comics on May 17th: 99.86%
Profiles in History. DEBBIE REYNOLDS – THE AUCTION FINALE - Ephemera on May 17th: 98.70%
Doyle New York. Prints on May 21st: 96.88%
Heritage Auctions. Movie Posters - Internet bidstart 5/11 on May 18th: 94.83%
Guillaumot Richard . Hunting Library of Mr. E. B Château de La Palisse in Allier on May 10th: 94.14%
Clars Auction Gallery. Prints and Photographs on May 17th: 87.50%
Heritage Auctions. Rare Books - Internet bidstart 5/8 on May 15th: 85.51%
Bruun Rasmussen. Modern and Contemporary Prints on May 20th: 81.94%
Bonhams. Period Art and Design - Prints on May 19th: 81.48%
Rachel Davis Fine Arts. Fine and Decorative Arts - Prints on May 10th: 80.98%
Dominic Winter Book Auctions. PRINTED BOOKS & MAPS, TRAVEL & POLAR EXPLORATION, NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENCE on May 14th: 80.40%

For the week ahead 14 sales are scheduled:

Mon. May. 26th
PIASA. Paris. Photography Books, etc. - Online bidstart 5/16. 110 lots
Bruun Rasmussen. Copenhagen. Old Master, Modern and Contemporary Prints. 39 lots

Wed. May. 28th
Alexander Autographs. Chesapeake City. Abstract and Outsider Art - Prints. 16 lots

Thu. May. 29th
Christies. London -South Kensington. Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts. 293 lots
Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Automobilia. 128 lots
Galerie Bassenge. Berlin-Grunewald . 15th-18th Century Prints. 831 lots
Keys Fine Arts Auctioneers. Norwich. Books - Day 1. 808 lots
Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Rare Books - Internet bidstart 5/22. 499 lots

Fri. May. 30th
Keys Fine Arts Auctioneers. Norwich. Books - Day 2. 232 lots

Sat. May. 31st
Skinner. Boston. Fine Books and Manuscripts. 405 lots
Galerie Bassenge. Berlin-Grunewald . Modern Art Part II - Prints. 435 lots
Galerie Bassenge. Berlin-Grunewald . Modern Art Part I - Prints. 179 lots

Sun. Jun. 1st
Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Comics -Internet bidstart 5/25.
Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Movie Posters - Internet bidstart 5/25.

With June looming this quiet week is a moment to rest.  June, at last count has 125 events scheduled.

 

Bruce McKinney

AE

  • 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.
  • 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.