Auction Update Review
The Pace Quickens
For the week ending Saturday
September 8th 6 auctions were archived to the AED; 1 in euros, 1 in
British pounds and 4 in dollars. One
thousand four hundred and forty six lots were offered and 1,307 sold for an
exceptional 90.4% success rate. Total turnover was a million dollars.
Two sales reached 100% of their
aggregate high estimates on their lots in the books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera
field:
Bruun Rasmussen. Books on September 4th: 147%
Christie’s. The London Sale on September 12th: 142%
Every sale archived this week sold
at least 80% of their lots:
National Book. Books and Ephemera on August 12th: 100%
National Book. Books and Ephemera on July 29th: 99.6%
Bruun Rasmussen. Books on September 4th: 94%
Christie’s. The London Sale on September 3rd: 85%
Heritage Auctions. Rare books online ended September 6th: 80%
For the week ahead 11 sales are
scheduled:
Wed. Sept. 12th Dorotheum. Posters, Advertising Art, Comics, Film and
Photo History [9596]
Heritage
Auctions. Estate Sale: Prints and Photography [5101]
Rupert
Toovey and Co. Prints [1068].
Thurs. Sept. 13th Bloomsbury Auctions. Bibliophile [35949]
Heritage
Auctions. Estate Sale: Prints and Photography [5101]
Heritage
Auctions. Rare Books. Online bidding ending today.
PBA
Galleries. Rare Books and Manuscripts
[488]
Swann
Galleries. Fine & Vintage Writing
Instruments [2285]
Waddington’s. Joyner-Waddington Online Auction of Post-War
Canadian Art including Prints [91312]
Sat. Sept 15th Alain & Evelyne Morel de
Westgaver. Books, etc. [91512]
Sun. Sept. 16th Bonhams. Prints and
Photographs [20041]
The PBA Sale is interesting. For starters it's a big sale and for institutions and collectors an opportunity to consider some very good material. Details of the sale are appearing on AE home, auction and AEM pages.
The Swann sale of Fine and Vintage Writing Instruments the same day, Thursday the 13th, is also showcased on AE pages. Both sales deserve a careful look.
We enter the fall season undecided
if the tool of choice will be the cross-cut or rip saw. We know the music will be a Brandenburg
Concerto but not yet the key. My
sense is we are in the new reality. Old
price assumptions are no longer dictating.
Demand is and it’s increasingly a very different game, the ability to build
and command an audience now essential and inseparable from great material and very good
descriptions.
For institutions and collectors the
market has never been better. For
dealers its an adjustment.
Bruce McKinney
AE
September 9th, 2012