Auction Update Review

34 Auctions Archived, 40 upcoming this Week

For the week ended Saturday 9 December 34 auctions were archived to the Rare Book Hub Transaction Database; 7 denominated in euros, 4 in British pounds, and 23 in US dollars.  Turnover was $17,901,772 as 9,751 lots were offered and 7,317 sold for a 75% success rate.  It was another strong week.

 

4 auctions saw their total proceeds reach a million dollars: 

ChristiesFine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana on December 5th: $5,218,500 
ChristiesRUSSIAN AMERICA AND POLAR EXPLORATION: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MARTIN GREENE LIBRARY on December 7th: $2,980,313 
SothebysMedieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Continental and Russian Books on December 5th: $1,776,762 
Swann GalleriesMaps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books on December 5th: $1,150,026 

6 auctions saw total sales exceed 100% of the high estimates of all lots offered in the sale: 

Leland Little AuctionsThe Winter Quarterly Auction on December 2nd: 125.98% 
Neret Minet and TessierBooks and Manuscripts on November 30th: 125.14% 
Stair Auctioneers and Appraisers20th Century, Modern & Contemporary Fine Art - Prints on December 2nd: 122.15% 
SothebysMedieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Continental and Russian Books on December 5th: 113.18% 
Stair Auctioneers and AppraisersPhotography Online on December 6th: 104.19% 
ChristiesRUSSIAN AMERICA AND POLAR EXPLORATION: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MARTIN GREENE LIBRARY on December 7th: 100.29% 


15 sales saw at least 80% of their lots sell: 

Leland Little AuctionsThe Winter Quarterly Auction on December 2nd: 100.00% 
Heritage AuctionsSunday Internet Sports Collectibles - Internet bidstart 11-5 on December 3rd: 100.00% 
Heritage AuctionsSunday Internet Comics - bidstart 11/26 on December 3rd: 100.00% 
Heritage AuctionsTuesday Internet Currency Auction - Online bidstart 11/28 on December 5th: 98.18% 
Heritage AuctionsSunday Internet Movie Posters - bidstart 11/26 on December 3rd: 97.39% 
Stair Auctioneers and Appraisers20th Century, Modern & Contemporary Fine Art - Prints on December 2nd: 97.01% 
Lancaster Mennonite Historical SocietyRare and Used Books on November 10th: 95.93% 
Stair Auctioneers and AppraisersPhotography Online on December 6th: 92.31% 
Rago Arts and AuctionsRemix - Prints on December 2nd: 90.91% 
John McInnis AuctioneersExtraordinary Estate Auction on December 2nd: 88.31% 
ChristiesRUSSIAN AMERICA AND POLAR EXPLORATION: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MARTIN GREENE LIBRARY on December 7th: 86.22% 
Heritage AuctionsAmericana and Political Grand Format Auction on December 2nd: 85.54% 
Bruun RasmussenPrints on December 5th: 84.09% 
Swann GalleriesMaps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books on December 5th: 83.06% 
Forum AuctionsFine Books, Western Manuscripts and Works on Paper on December 6th: 80.04% 

 

 

Top 25 Lots Reported This Past Week.
  1. Christies Albert Einstein’s telescope. on December 5th Actual price: USD $432,500.
  2. Christies DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. on December 5th Actual price: USD $432,500.
  3. Bonhams Apple 1 Computer. Apple 1 Motherboard, with label "Apple Computer 1 / Palo Alto. Ca. Copyright 1976." on December 6th Actual price: USD $372,500.
  4. Christies The 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Daniel Nathans on December 5th Actual price: USD $372,500.
  5. Sothebys The Hours of the Russian Princess Isabel Gagarine, Use of Paris, in Latin and French on December 5th Actual price: USD $301,500.
  6. Christies Autograph letter signed ("Go:Washington" and "GW" in postscript), to François-Jean de Beauvoir, Chevalier de Chastellux, Newburgh 14 December 1782. on December 5th Actual price: USD $275,000.
  7. Christies YORKTOWN CAMPAIGN– Manuscript map, "No 1 Carte générale de l'Isle de New York et des Environs...No 2. on December 5th Actual price: USD $275,000.
  8. Christies Atlas de l’océan pacifique on December 7th Actual price: USD $162,500.
  9. Christies The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles with the names of the Adventurers, Planters, and Governours from their first beginning An° 1584 to this present 1624. on December 5th Actual price: USD $162,500.
  10. Heritage Auctions John F. Kennedy: A Rare Signed Original Painting by the 35th U.S. President. on December 2nd Actual price: USD $162,500.
  11. Christies BIBLE – COMPLUTENSIAN POLYGLOT, in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. on December 5th Actual price: USD $137,500.
  12. Christies Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789, from China to the North West coast of America on December 7th Actual price: USD $131,250.
  13. Sothebys AN IMPORTANT SERIES OF TWENTY-NINE AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED ("HENRI", "HMATISSE", OR WITH INITIALS), TO HIS WIFE AMÉLIE ("MÉLO"), ABOUT HIS WORK IN TANGIERS IN 1912-1913, INCLUDING NINE DRAWINGS OF HIS MOROCCAN PAINTINGS on December 5th Actual price: USD $125,625.
  14. Bonhams Blue Box c.1972. on December 6th Actual price: USD $125,000.
  15. Christies Considérations géographiques et physiques sur les nouvelles découvertes au nord de la Grande Mer on December 7th Actual price: USD $106,250.
  16. Christies Reglamento para el Gobierno de la Provincia de Californias. on December 5th Actual price: USD $106,250.
  17. Heritage Auctions The Bugle Which Sounded Taps for Lincoln. on December 2nd Actual price: USD $100,000.
  18. Christies Voyage pittoresque autour du monde, avec des portraits de sauvages d'Amérique, d'Asie, d'Afrique, et des iles du Grand Ocean; on December 7th Actual price: USD $93,750.
  19. Christies His Discours of Voyages unto ye Easte & West Indies. Devided into Foure Bookes. on December 5th Actual price: USD $93,750.
  20. Christies LORD DUNMORE'S WAR – Manuscript, "Journal of the Expedition down the River Ohio Under the Command of his Excellency John Earl of Dunmore Lieutenant and Governor General of his Majesty's Colony and Dominion of Virginia 1774," Virginia on December 5th Actual price: USD $93,750.
  21. Christies Puteshestvie Flota Kapitana...[The Voyage of Fleet Captain Sarychev to Northeastern Siberia, the Frozen Sea, and the Eastern Ocean.] on December 7th Actual price: USD $87,500.
  22. Christies A Voyage Round the World, in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788 on December 7th Actual price: USD $87,500.
  23. Christies RUSSIAN OLD BELIEVERS – Kniga Zertsalo tainstv i kontsa vsemirnogo The Mirror of Sacraments and the End of the World, in Church Slavonic, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER Baltic region, c.1818. on December 5th Actual price: USD $87,500.
  24. Christies History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the Sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed during the years 1804-5-6. on December 5th Actual price: USD $87,500.
  25. Bonhams Jane Avril on December 5th Actual price: USD $81,250.



34 total sales reported this week:

RR Auction. Featuring Autographs, etc. - Online bidstart 11/7 on December 6th: 54.05%
Rossini. Bibliophilia and Autographs on December 7th: 54.49%
Tajan. Limited Editions on December 6th: 49.49%
Christies. RUSSIAN AMERICA AND POLAR EXPLORATION: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MARTIN GREENE LIBRARY on December 7th: 86.22%
Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. Rare and Used Books on November 10th: 95.93%
Forum Auctions. Fine Books, Western Manuscripts and Works on Paper on December 6th: 80.04%
Grays Auctioneers. Fine Art - Prints on November 29th: 70.19%
Vermot de Pas. Children's Books on November 22nd: 36.52%
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. Fine Books and Manuscripts on December 6th: 74.12%
Bloomsbury Auctions. Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures on December 6th: 33.11%
Bonhams. History of Science and Technology on December 6th: 46.49%
Stair Auctioneers and Appraisers. Photography Online on December 6th: 92.31%
Stair Auctioneers and Appraisers. 20th Century, Modern & Contemporary Fine Art - Prints on December 2nd: 97.01%
Treadway Toomey Auctions. 20th Century Art and Design - Prints, Books, Autographs on December 2nd: 73.29%
Bruun Rasmussen. Prints on December 5th: 84.09%
Sothebys. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Continental and Russian Books on December 5th: 72.25%
Christies. Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana on December 5th: 69.32%
Dorotheum . Books and Decorative Prints on December 5th: 76.96%
Bonhams. Modern and Contemporary Prints and Multiples on December 5th: 73.08%
Swann Galleries. Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books on December 5th: 83.06%
Heritage Auctions. Tuesday Internet Currency Auction - Online bidstart 11/28 on December 5th: 98.18%
Forum Auctions. Online Sale: Music, Opera and Theatre on November 30th: 78.38%
John McInnis Auctioneers. Extraordinary Estate Auction on December 2nd: 88.31%
Minerva Auctions Roma. Photographs on November 28th: 35.18%
Eldreds. Fall Asian Art Auction - Prints on December 1st: 60.78%
AntiquarianAuctions.com. Books - Internet Bidstart 11/23 on November 30th: 42.92%
Rago Arts and Auctions. Remix - Prints on December 2nd: 90.91%
Neret Minet and Tessier. Books and Manuscripts on November 30th: 47.39%
Heritage Auctions. Sunday Internet Comics - bidstart 11/26 on December 3rd: 100.00%
Heritage Auctions. Sunday Internet Sports Collectibles - Internet bidstart 11-5 on December 3rd: 100.00%
Heritage Auctions. Sunday Internet Movie Posters - bidstart 11/26 on December 3rd: 97.39%
Heritage Auctions. Americana and Political Grand Format Auction on December 2nd: 85.54%
Leland Little Auctions. The Winter Quarterly Auction on December 2nd: 100.00%
The Antiquarian Book. Rare Books - Internet bidstart 11/27 on December 1st: 40.00%


For the week ahead 40 sales are scheduled:

Mon. Dec. 11th
ALDE. Paris. Original Editions, 19th-21st Centuries. 373 lots
Sothebys. London. English Literature, History, Children’s Books & Illustrations. 365 lots
Sothebys. New York. Fine Books and Manuscripts. 349 lots
Mossgreen. Armadale, Melbourne VIC. Australian History. 336 lots
Bruun Rasmussen. Copenhagen. Prints. 67 lots

Tue. Dec. 12th
Henri Godts Books and Prints Auctions. Bruxelles . Live Auction - Books, Prints. 539 lots
Sothebys. New York. History of Science and Technology. 71 lots
Soler Y Llach. Barcelona. Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts. 947 lots
Forum Auctions. London. Banksy. 40 lots
Minerva Auctions Roma. Roma. Prints and Multiples. 230 lots
Mossgreen. Woollahra NSW. Sydney Morning Herald Photography Archive, Part 1. 272 lots
Bruun Rasmussen. Copenhagen. Books and Manuscripts. 233 lots
Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Tuesday Internet Currency Auction - Online bidstart 12/5. 500 lots

Wed. Dec. 13th
Dominic Winter Book Auctions. Gloucestershire. Printed Books, Maps and Documents. 455 lots
ALDE. Paris. Letters, Autographs, Manuscripts. 360 lots
Bonhams. London. Entertainment Memorabilia. 163 lots
Artcurial. Paris. Limited Edition. 181 lots
Aste Bolaffi. Milan. Books and Manuscripts. 724 lots
Christies. London - King Street. Valuable Books and Manuscripts. 243 lots
Forum Auctions in Italy. Roma. Antiquarian and Rare Books. 72 lots

Thu. Dec. 14th
Swann Galleries. New York. Illustration Art. 307 lots
Christies. London - King Street. Old Master Prints. 201 lots
RR Auction. Amherst. Fine Autographs & Artifacts - Internet bidstart 11/17. 503 lots
Doyle New York. New York. Photographs, including: Ansel Adams: The Complete Museum Set. 198 lots
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. Chicago. Fine Prints. 211 lots
PBA Galleries. San Francisco. Fine Americana - Travel & Exploration - World History - Cartography. 613 lots
Bloomsbury Auctions. London. Books and Works on Paper, Including Fine Photographs. 436 lots
Dominic Winter Book Auctions. Gloucestershire. The Library of Richard Adams, author of Watership Down. 134 lots
Bonhams. Los Angeles. The Producer's Pix - Photographs from the Collection of Bruce Berman. 161 lots
Trillium Antique Prints & Rare Books. Franklin. Fine Art - Antique Engravings & Lithographs - Works on Paper. 157 lots
Forum Auctions. London. Online Sale: Books and Works on Paper. 146 lots
Forum Auctions in Italy. Roma. Futurismo. 100 lots
Minerva Auctions Roma. Roma. Books, Autographs and Prints. 435 lots

Fri. Dec. 15th
Dominic Winter Book Auctions. Gloucestershire. Children's and Illustrated Books. 338 lots
Christies. London - King Street. The Astor Collection from Tillypronie, Aberdeenshire. 165 lots

Sat. Dec. 16th
Clars Auction Gallery. Oakland. Antiques, Asian and Fine Arts: Prints. 114 lots
Potter and Potter Auctions. Chicago. Winter Magic Auction. 315 lots

Sun. Dec. 17th
Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Sunday Internet Comics - bidstart 12/10.
Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Sunday Internet Movie Posters - bidstart 12/10.
Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Sunday Internet Sports Collectibles - Internet bidstart 11/19. 389 lots

Bruce McKinney

RBH and AE

  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD