Auctions in December

- by Bruce E. McKinney

Christie's Modern & Contemporary Prints. December 5, 2012.

It’s the holiday season and the end of the fall auction season is at hand.  The last scheduled December auction is, as of today, on December 28th.  For the month of December 83 events are scheduled, a stunning number, up 20 from last year.  As in other years December is expected to be a blockbuster although the items in the stratosphere perhaps a bit fewer.  It hardly matters because we are looking for personal gems, not necessarily the fields’ icons.  By tradition the most important material passes from seller to buyer in this period and there is every indication that both consignors and buyers will go home happy.

What’s increasingly different are the numbers of sales and lots.  Not so long ago three or four thousand lots in a week were impressive.  Today the new normal quickly approaches 10,000 and, as the holiday weeks are demonstrating, 16,000 is possible.

Here is what the December auction schedule looks like.  Use the auction search at the top of all pages to search all posted sales together.  It saves time and simultaneously shows you alternative buying options in Books for Sale as well as the number of related records in the AED.
   

Saturday Dec. 1st

Neret – Minet & Tessier.  Sale No. 14592.  Comic Strips

Profiles in History.  Sale No. 12012.  Animation Auction 52 – Internet Only

Galerie Bassenge.  Sale No. 100L.  Modern Art – Part I

Galerie Bassenge.  Sale No. 100L.  Modern Art – Part II

Dirk Soulis.  Prints [34604].  63 lots

Sunday Dec. 2nd
       

Osenat.  Sale No. 13962.  Fontainbleau Empire

National Book Auctions.  Sale No. 120212.  Books, Art, Ephemera, and Collectibles