Auction Update Review

Happy Holidays

For the week ended Saturday 23 December 28 auctions were archived to the Rare Book Hub Transaction Database; 4 denominated in euros, 4 denominated in British pounds, and 20 in US dollars.  Turnover was $8,086,561 as 9,570 lots were offered and 7,546 sold for a 79% success rate.  The average lot brought $1,067.66.  

 

3 auctions saw their total proceeds reach a million dollars: 

SothebysImportant Judaica on December 20th: $2,268,500 
BonhamsPrints and Multiples on December 18th: $1,408,519 
Forum AuctionsBanksy on December 12th: $1,261,298 

5 auctions saw total sales exceed 100% of the high estimates of all lots offered: 

Stair Auctioneers and AppraisersBooks, Manuscripts, Prints on December 16th: 130.44% 
Robert Siegel GalleriesStampless Stories: A Postal History of America on December 12th: 124.55% 
Dominic Winter Book AuctionsChildren's and Illustrated Books on December 15th: 124.13% 
Fonsie Mealy AuctioneersRare Books on December 5th: 110.23% 
BonhamsPrints and Multiples on December 18th: 100.32% 

Top 25 Lots Reported This Past Week.
  1. Sothebys An Exceedingly Rare Ashkenazic Hebrew Bible with Numerous Micrographic Decorations, Scribe: Mattithiah ben Jedidiah on December 20th Actual price: USD $555,000.
  2. Sothebys An Exceptional Copy of the Sefer Minhagim of Rabbi Samuel of Ulm, Accompanied by Numerous Other Historical, Rabbinic, and Literary Texts on December 20th Actual price: USD $435,000.
  3. Sothebys Tefillah mi-Kol ha-Shanah ke-Minhag ha-Ashkenazim, with Seder ha-Haggadah shel Pesah (A Previously Unknown and Earliest Extant Complete Western Ashkenazic Daily Prayer Book and Haggadah), on December 20th Actual price: USD $312,500.
  4. Sothebys Pentateuch with Masorah on December 20th Actual price: USD $237,500.
  5. Forum Auctions Girl with Balloon on December 12th Actual price: USD $177,375.
  6. Bonhams Cirque on December 18th Actual price: USD $153,188.
  7. Sothebys Torah Scroll on December 20th Actual price: USD $150,000.
  8. Forum Auctions NOLA (Pink to Yellow Rain) on December 12th Actual price: USD $137,063.
  9. Bonhams Nola (Blue and Green Rain) on December 18th Actual price: USD $96,750.
  10. Bonhams Alexander The Great on December 18th Actual price: USD $77,400.
  11. Dominic Winter Book Auctions Down and Out in Paris and London, on December 15th Actual price: USD $73,660.
  12. Forum Auctions Christ with Shopping Bags on December 12th Actual price: USD $72,563.
  13. Forum Auctions Girl with Balloon on December 12th Actual price: USD $67,725.
  14. Forum Auctions Watchtower on December 12th Actual price: USD $58,050.
  15. Sothebys The Haggadah, Executed by Arthur Szyk, Edited by Cecil Roth on December 20th Actual price: USD $56,250.
  16. Forum Auctions Rude Copper (Anarchy) on December 12th Actual price: USD $54,825.
  17. Sothebys A Monumental Micrographic Manuscript Plaque on December 20th Actual price: USD $50,000.
  18. Bonhams The Sunshine Roof on December 18th Actual price: USD $48,375.
  19. Forum Auctions Happy Choppers on December 12th Actual price: USD $48,375.
  20. Bonhams No Ball Games on December 18th Actual price: USD $45,150.
  21. Bonhams Pulp Fiction on December 18th Actual price: USD $45,150.
  22. Forum Auctions Bomb Love (Bomb Hugger) on December 12th Actual price: USD $45,150.
  23. Forum Auctions Morons (Sepia) on December 12th Actual price: USD $45,150.
  24. Sothebys Miniature Torah Scroll on December 20th Actual price: USD $43,750.
  25. Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers The World Described; or A New and Correct Sett of Maps, shewing the Several Empires, Kingdoms, Republics, Principalities, Provinces & c., in all known parts of the Earth; tall atlas on December 5th Actual price: USD $42,480.



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

National Book Auctions. Fraternal, Children’s, Antique, etc. on December 9th: 100.00%
Heritage Auctions. Sunday Internet Comics - bidstart 12/10 on December 17th: 99.57%
Robert Siegel Galleries. Stampless Stories: A Postal History of America on December 12th: 99.55%
Heritage Auctions. Sunday Internet Movie Posters - bidstart 12/10 on December 17th: 98.96%
Stair Auctioneers and Appraisers. Books, Manuscripts, Prints on December 16th: 97.56%
Heritage Auctions. Tuesday Internet Currency Auction - Online bidstart 12/12 on December 19th: 96.88%
Christies. Collection Jean Lafont on September 22nd: 96.30%
Forum Auctions. Banksy on December 12th: 95.00%
Dirk Soulis Auctions. Autographs/Animation Art on December 5th: 92.21%
Bruun Rasmussen. Prints on December 19th: 86.76%
Rachel Davis Fine Arts. Fine and Decorative Arts - Prints on December 9th: 84.78%
Dominic Winter Book Auctions. Children's and Illustrated Books on December 15th: 84.32%
Holabird Kagin Americana. December Premiere Sale - Day 3 on December 3rd: 83.64%
Forum Auctions. Online Sale: Books and Works on Paper on December 14th: 82.88%
Cowans Auctions. Fine Books, Including the Culpin World War I Art Collection on December 18th: 82.73%
Heritage Auctions. Sunday Internet Sports Collectibles - Internet bidstart 11/19 on December 17th: 82.01%
Trillium Antique Prints & Rare Books. Fine Art - Antique Engravings & Lithographs - Works on Paper on December 14th: 81.07%


28 total sales reported this week:

Stair Auctioneers and Appraisers. Books, Manuscripts, Prints on December 16th: 97.56%
Rachel Davis Fine Arts. Fine and Decorative Arts - Prints on December 9th: 84.78%
Moreshet Auctions. Judaica: Books and Manuscripts on December 6th: 67.30%
Sothebys. Important Judaica on December 20th: 57.30%
Alexander Historical Auctions. Autographs on December 20th: 76.10%
JellyFishTree. Books on November 15th: 43.52%
Cowans Auctions. Fine Books, Including the Culpin World War I Art Collection on December 18th: 82.73%
Bruun Rasmussen. Prints on December 19th: 86.76%
Bonhams. Prints and Multiples on December 18th: 77.24%
Trillium Antique Prints & Rare Books. Fine Art - Antique Engravings & Lithographs - Works on Paper on December 14th: 81.07%
Forum Auctions. Online Sale: Books and Works on Paper on December 14th: 82.88%
Forum Auctions. Banksy on December 12th: 95.00%
Heritage Auctions. Tuesday Internet Currency Auction - Online bidstart 12/12 on December 19th: 96.88%
Winner's Auctions and Exhibitions. Holy books, letters from Rabbis and Rebbes, Judaica, Maps, Periodicals, Postcards, banknotes, Eretz on November 29th: 60.20%
Minerva Auctions Roma. Prints and Multiples on December 12th: 52.61%
Robert Siegel Galleries. Stampless Stories: A Postal History of America on December 12th: 99.55%
Dirk Soulis Auctions. Autographs/Animation Art on December 5th: 92.21%
Grays Auctioneers. Paintings, Prints & Photographs on December 13th: 56.25%
Dominic Winter Book Auctions. Children's and Illustrated Books on December 15th: 84.32%
National Book Auctions. Fraternal, Children’s, Antique, etc. on December 9th: 100.00%
Heritage Auctions. Sunday Internet Sports Collectibles - Internet bidstart 11/19 on December 17th: 82.01%
Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers. Rare Books on December 5th: 71.10%
Holabird Kagin Americana. December Premiere Sale - Day 3 on December 3rd: 83.64%
Holabird Kagin Americana. December Premiere Sale - Day 2 on December 2nd: 69.42%
Holabird Kagin Americana. December Premiere Sale - Day 1 on December 1st: 69.62%
Heritage Auctions. Sunday Internet Movie Posters - bidstart 12/10 on December 17th: 98.96%
Heritage Auctions. Sunday Internet Comics - bidstart 12/10 on December 17th: 99.57%
Christies. Collection Jean Lafont on September 22nd: 96.30%

For the week ahead 4 sales are scheduled:


Tue. Dec. 26th
Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Heritage Auctions: Sunday Internet Sports Collectibles - Internet bidstart 11/26. 280 lots
Heritage Auctions. Dallas. Tuesday Internet Currency Auction - Online bidstart 12/19. 244 lots

Fri. Dec. 29th
Tooveys. West Sussex. End of Year Sale - Prints. 31 lots

Sat. Dec. 30th
Artcurial. Paris. Paris#Marrakech. 11 lots

Bruce McKinney

RBH and AE

  • 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
  • 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.