Auction Update Review
The Season Begins in Earnest
Total sales at auction for any
given week are going to come in at about $5.5 million dollars. In the slower months, and January is one of
them, weekly sales may come in at $2 million, in the busiest weeks $20 million,
even more. A spectacular sale in January
is unusual, even unexpected but we had one – Christie’s one lot sale of the
double elephant folio - Audubon’s
birds. That one lot brought $7.9 million
and reminds us that the fabulous does well in every circumstance. It’s refreshing to see and Christie’s
deserves praise. In a market that is
providing to be uneven it is important to see examples of exceptional success.
Heritage and PBA also sold –
between them 663 lots – for $142,000.
The market is beginning to gain traction as we move into February.
For the week ahead 15 sales are
scheduled:
Wed. January 25th: Dominic Winter. Books, Maps, Egyptology, Bibles (12512)
Christie’s. Interiors
[Prints] (3501)
Tajan. Posters: An Important Collection (9700)
Rupert
Toovey. Prints (1010)
Thurs. January 26th: Bloomsbury. Craigie Aitchison (35875)
Keys
Fine Arts. Books Day 1 (966)
Christie’s. Interiors [Prints] (3501)
Friday January 27th: Keys. Books Day 2 (967)
Sat. January 28th: Morton Casa de Sabastas. Books, Documents and Prints (620)
Neret
– Minet & Tessier. Marine, Travel
(11819)
Sunday January 29th: Artcurial Briest-Le
Fur-Poulain-F. Tajan. Aeronautics I
(18087)
Artcurial
Briest-Le Fur-Poulain-F. Tajan. Aeronautics
II
Bonhams. Books and Manuscripts (19678)
National
Book Auctions. Books and Ephemera –
McCarthy, Picasso, Antiques, etc. (01292012)
Bruun
Rasmussen Prints – Online bidstarts
1/23 (1204)
Bruce McKinney
AE
January 22th, 2012