Rare Book Monthly
Recent Auction Reports: The Market's Pulse
Recent Auction Reports: always updating
Every day I get a calls from dealers for whom transactions have virtually stopped. Here is a picture of one category, the auctions, that slowed in the fall and have resumed, albeit at lower price levels, but at sell-though rates near to historic norms - 70% to 75%. To see this we are now providing, as a permanent feature, auction box scores because this is where book valuation is reestablishing its equilibrium today. For people who believe that the world of books is changing this is a front row seat. Individual sales are interesting. Many sales taken together provide a perspective you have never seen before. Included in these reports are:
Auction House
Auction Name
Sale Date
Sale Number
Total Lots
Sold Lots
Lots Sold %
Low Estimate
High Estimate
Actual Total
On a day-in and day-out basis realized auction prices is currently the best indication of what someone will pay.
Here is a link to the Auction Search Page.
The auction market is in constant motion with a documented sale completing, on average every 17 hours. The location in the world, the psychology of the moment, the number of bidders, the number of copies known, all affect outcome. Auctions are a writhing being, complex, merciful and merciless by turn. It is also reality.
Recent Auction Reports capture the success and failure, the caprice and drama in the rooms. The new section includes the most current twenty-five archived sales. The latest sale is on top and the next twenty-four accessible via NEXT >>. For each sale a link to View Top Ten Lots by Sale Price is provided. Clicking on the Auction Calendar for more complete listings links to calendars of additional archived sales, each with an R and a dot. The two prior months can be accessed via the Previous Month link.
