This week the dichotomy between dollar denominated sales and auctions conducted in all other currencies continued. Five $ denominated sales were archived including a late-to-arrive report from Gallery at Knotty Pine in New Hampshire. One sale, Sotheby's New York Judaica, brought $1,509,500 on 32 of the 67 lots. The other four $ denominated sales sold 95% of their lots for $460,225, the total for all $ denominated sales $1,959,725.

Sales of lots denominated in Pounds, Euros and Australian dollars, rebounded from a 56% sell-through the previous week to achieve a 69% success rate this past week while raising $11,086,950. Australian Book Auctions' No. 44 sold through at a robust 92% rate raising US$908,824. Alde's sale of books on November 23rd was also red hot, achieving a 92% sell-through and raising $6,956,052.

The sell-through percentage for all 13 sales archived this past week, was a healthy 74%, the buying interest present when the lots are were not over-reserved. The total of all sales archived this week was $18,018,427.

Heading into December the market is looking poised for recovery. The moving average of all lots sold [for the past 12 months] remains fixed in the $370 range, the trailing 12 month average percentage of lots sold continues to decline to about 67%.

The monthly charts were updated this week to reflect all sales though the end of October.

The worst appears to be behind us although the charts may not reflect this for another two months.

Bruce McKinney
AE