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Sothebys: History of Science and Technology

Auction Reports

Auction Name History of Science and Technology Total Sales (USD) 1,462,375.00
Auction Date December 12, 2017 - December 12, 2017 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 1,088,600.00
Sale Number #n09686 High Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 1,584,900.00
Total Lots 71
Sold Lots 41 Low Estimate of All Lots (USD) 1,653,800.00
% of Lots Sold 57.75% High Estimate of All Lots (USD) 2,419,200.00
Unsold Lots 30 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 60.45%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
67 ENIGMA M4

A FULLY OPERATIONAL FOUR-ROTOR ("M4") KRIEGSMARINE ENIGMA CIPHER MACHINE.

1944 USD 350,000.00 - 500,000.00 USD 435,000.00
35 THE "POLIO" NOBEL PRIZE

THE 1954 NOBEL PRIZE MEDAL FOR PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE AWARDED TO FREDERICK C. ROBBINS

1954 USD 200,000.00 - 300,000.00 USD 200,000.00
32 Darwin, Charles.

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, TO JAMES GRANT.

1878.  USD 40,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD 125,000.00
39 Newton, Isaac — [Albert Einstein & Roman Vishniac]

PHILOSOPHIÆ NATURALIS PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA.

1726 USD 8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD 87,500.00
65 ENIGMA I

A FULLY OPERATIONAL EARLY THREE-ROTOR ENIGMA I CIPHER MACHINE.

EARLY 1930S. USD 120,000.00 - 180,000.00 USD 81,250.00
66 SWISS ENIGMA K

A FULLY OPERATIONAL SWISS ENIGMA ("K") CIPHER MACHINE.

C 1939. USD 70,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD 75,000.00
38 Newton, Isaac

Autograph Manuscript in Latin

c. 1670 USD 40,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD 47,500.00
51 FEYNMAN, RICHARD

SURELY YOU'RE JOKING MR. FEYNMAN! ADVENTURES OF A CURIOUS CHARACTER. AS TOLD TO RALPH LEIGHTON.

1985 USD 12,000.00 - 18,000.00 USD 43,750.00
48 EINSTEIN, ALBERT.

TYPED LETTER SIGNED TO MISS LINDA CROUSE OF NEW YORK, NY, NOVEMBER 29, 1952.

1952 USD 30,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD 37,500.00
53 King, Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace

THE FIRST COMPUTER PROGRAMMER 

ca. 1839 USD 18,000.00 - 25,000.00 USD 32,500.00
47 [EINSTEIN, ALBERT]; FLEISCHMANN, TRUDE

PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY TRUDE FLEISCHMANN, TAKEN CA 1946

CA 1946 USD 20,000.00 - 25,000.00 USD 30,000.00
46 EINSTEIN, ALBERT

TYPED LETTER SIGNED TO HERBERT KONDO, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, 26 AUGUST 1949.

1949 USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 27,500.00
49 EINSTEIN, ALBERT

TYPED LETTER SIGNED AND NOTE SIGNED TO HERBERT KONDO, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, 11 AUGUST, 1952.

1952 USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 27,500.00
62 [THEREMIN]

TELETOUCH THEREMIN POSSIBLY BUILT BY LÉON THEREMIN, CIRCA 1937-1938

CIRCA 1937-1938 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 25,000.00
40 Newton, Isaac

THE MATHEMATICAL PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY [TRANS. A. MOTTE]. …

1729 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 20,000.00
41 PLANCK, MAX

ZUR THEORIE DES GESETZES DER ENERGIEVERTEILUNG IM NORMALSPECTRUM.

1900 USD 25,000.00 - 35,000.00 USD 20,000.00
20 Project Gemini — Wernher von Braun

SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF A GROUP OF AMERICAN ASTRONAUTS VISITING DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN AT THE MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

1962 USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD 17,500.00
45 EINSTEIN, ALBERT

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED "A. EINSTEIN" TO DR. RUDOLF EHRMANN, 22 MARCH, 1943. 

1943.  USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD 13,750.00
5 HERSCHEL, JOHN FREDERICK WILLIAM

AN ARCHIVE OF LETTERS TO ENGLISH GEOLOGIST DR. WILLIAM H. FITTON,

1827- 1829 USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 12,500.00
30 Darwin, Charles

THE WORKS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 

1888-92 USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD 12,500.00
68 NEMA 45

A FULLY OPERATIONAL NEMA MODEL 45 CIPHER MACHINE.

1948 USD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD 12,500.00
37 HALLEY, EDMUND

A NEW AND CORRECT CHART SHEWING THE VARIATIONS OF THE COMPASS IN THE WESTERN & SOUTHERN OCEANS AS OBSERVED IN THE YEAR 1700 …

[1702].  [1712]. USD 8,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD 8,750.00
36 [EUCLID]; ONDERIZ, PEDRO AMBROSIO

LA PERSPECTIVA, Y ESPECULARIA DE EUCLIDES.

1585 USD 3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD 8,125.00
6 Tellurian; Trippensee Co. 

THE TRIPPENSEE PLANETARIUM. 

1908  USD 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD 6,875.00
31 Darwin, Charles

Autograph Letter Signed ("Ch. Darwin")

c. 1839-1842 USD 6,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD 6,875.00
  • 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.
  • 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
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