Rare Book Monthly
Articles - December - 2005 Issue
One lot tells the story
Certificate signed by Rush: $6,500
Lot 1, "Biblia, Das ist: Die Heilige Schrift Altes und Neues Testaments" printed in Germantown by Sauer brought $2,800 plus hammer against an estimate of $1,500 to $2,500.
Lot 2, a sammelbend of 18th century publications on American Indians relating to or published in Pennsylvania brought $20,000 against an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000. Such items are among the most interesting books available today and often fail to realize their full value. This one did and it is, for its buyer, a prize.
Lot 3, Franklin's "Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital" printed by Franklin and Hall in 1754 brought $8,500 against an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000.
Lot 4, the "Postscript to the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 2373" including the British Crown's response to the Boston Tea Party, two coercive bills intended to punish the colonists. Estimated at $2,500 to $3,500 this lot went on the low side at $2,100.
Lot 67, a document signed by Benjamin Franklin in 1788 brought $6,000 against the estimate of $2,500 to $3,500.
Lot 78, the only surviving original survey of Pittsburgh brought $60,000 against an estimate of $50,000 to $90,000.
David Bloom of Freeman's, in discussing the sale postprandial, pointed to the Rush letters and documents [lots 71-74] as being particularly interesting. Several of these lots were purchased by a Penn alumnus as a gift to the school.
Some of the items we didn't write about were relative bargains.
Lot 7, a single volume of The American Museum or Universal Magazine: vol. 8, July - December, 1790 was an absolute bargain at $500. These early magazines tell an unduplicated story of emerging American life. Volumes tend to come up one or two at a time and to sell for modest prices. Give yourself five years to find all the volumes. Complete sets will command large premiums.
Lot 39, a group of Philadelphia medical imprints was also a nice buy even though it went for $1,700 against an estimate of $250 to $400. Philadelphia was the center of American medicine two hundred years ago.
Lot 59, a Franklin broadside [1796?] "Bowles's Moral Pictures, Poor Richard Illustrated" was a bargain at $1,800 against a high estimate of $1,200. Material that illustrates a collection commands a premium and is worth every penny.
Over the four days the aggregate winning bid including premium was $4.74 million. Eighty-four percent of all lots sold. For Freeman it was a nice way to start the next century and for the dealers and collectors bidding an opportunity to obtain some choice material.
To see all of the results from the Freeman auction, Click here.
