An Auction Up Close

Lot 20 is another item purchased in 2000. It's Francisco de Xerez's "Libro primo de la conquista del Peru & provincia del Cuzco de le Indie occidentali...", printed in Rome in 1535 and estimated today to bring $9,000 to $12,000. It sells for $7,800. I paid $9,700 in a Sotheby's sale in London in 2000.

The sale is now one quarter in. Lots 11 to 20 bring $274,920, the first 20 $895,680. The sale is now projecting $3.5 million. I give my wife a kiss and tell her I think we'll do some serious shopping for her after the sale wraps up. AE has always been a complex project, the exploration of the unknown, the sorting out of information and egos, AE often unwelcome. We have nevertheless pushed ahead, seeing past resistance, to the field's ultimate need for such services. In this Jenny has been my complete partner. This sale is going to work well and in our shared glance we exchange a look confirming we both understand what is happening here today. If it's 1840 we can come down from the trees.

The sequence of items is in date order. Lots 21 to 30 encompass 1538 to 1557 and bring $325,200. Two items typify the group. Lot 25 is an important [but not exceptionally important] book. It's the first edition [1550], in German of Hernando Cortes' second and third letters. It's a superb copy befitting its source, Librairie Thomas-Scheler of Paris. What makes it far rarer is the indicia on its cover. This is the copy of the great bibliographer Ternaux-Compans. This is an extraordinary association copy. I paid $10,000 in 1995 and it brings $10,200 today. For some very lucky and serious collector this is an absolute gem.

Lot 26 is another item I purchased from Librairie Thomas-Scheler. It is a complete set of the La Casas indian tracts. There are 8 parts in two volumes. I acquired the set for $42,500 in 1996. Today it brings $132,000. It is an important set, a desirable item, bedrock to any collection of the New World.

Lots 31 to 40 bring $332,640, the first 40 lots $1,476,960.

Lots 51 to 60, spanning the period 1596 to 1607, bring $147,240, the total $1,624,200 to this point. The most important item in the sale is coming up.

Lots 61 and 62 are Siebert items, both purchased at the first Siebert sale in May, 1999. That day interest ran high. The Siebert collection was a gem of obsession for early and original material. To buy these two editions of Lescarbot [1609 and 1618] I had to offer more than other determined bidders bid. That day I paid $137,000. Today they bring $144,000. Their impeccable provenance carried the day. In 1999 the two were estimated $15,000 to $20,000 each, today $50,000 to $80,000.

And then lot 67 comes up. Peter Costanzo is now calling the sale. It's Samuel Champlain's "Les Voyages de Sieur de Champlain," dated 1613, containing an exceptional copy of the book with an unobtainable copy of a map of the new world. By later reports there are seven bidders in the room and on the phones offering $300,000. The bidding races to $500,000 and then by increments of $50,000 to $600,000. At $650,000 an English dealer takes it. With commission the lot brings $758,000.

When the hammer comes down on the final lot at about 12:15 77 of the 81 lots have sold. An offer is immediately received for the 4 unsold lots and a counter offer given. Another buyer then makes an offer which is rendered moot when the counter is accepted. That offer is then allocated between the four lots according to their estimates and the sale recorded as 100% sold.

Proceeds from the sale total $3,489,440, double the low estimate, three times the reserve. These 81 items cost $2.4 million. Net of commission the sale brings in $2.85 million, a 20% return on material purchased, on average, a decade ago and sold today, during an economic slump. It suggests serious collecting remains viable, an encouraging prospect for those who find meaning in life through their passion for collectible material.

Left to decide the market found the material, presentation, timing and estimates appealing. For the 81 lots there were about 75 registered and 32 successful bidders. For the premium portion of the rare book market it is confirmation, as the numbers suggested last summer, that the bottom is in and buyers ready to acquire. On December 3rd they did, delivering a clear signal to a nervous market, that the passion for great material survives.

The auction over, its time for lunch and an excursion to buy Jenny several outfits. If the sale hadn't done well she would have politely declined. That we're heading in that direction confirms our satisfaction with the outcome and Bloomsbury's superb execution.

Rare Book Monthly

An Auction Up Close

Rare Book Monthly

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An Auction Up Close

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