Collectible paper has been prospering in the auction rooms for many years. Over the prior 15 years it has been a given that the annual numbers would slowly increase. When Covid hit no one knew what would happen and it turned out in 2020 that the book auctions would became the beneficiary of the stay-at-home health policies that reduced or eliminated shows and closed shops.
The question would be whether the upsurge in lots, prices, and traffic would hold and today we know. The surge has held and our month to month records for the past 4 years suggest that old paper at auction will be maintaining, into 2024, the billion dollar pace we first saw in 2021.
Here are some charts to think about.
| Year | Month | Events | Total Lots | Lots Sold |
| 2023 | 1 | 168 | 41,969 | 35,764 |
| 2023 | 2 | 189 | 45,318 | 37,697 |
| 2023 | 3 | 228 | 59,741 | 48,673 |
| 2023 | 4 | 204 | 49,723 | 40,038 |
| 2023 | 5 | 219 | 64,325 | 48,431 |
| 2023 | 6 | 228 | 58,775 | 44,758 |
| 2023 | 7 | 186 | 50,091 | 41,070 |
| 2023 | 8 | 151 | 33,377 | 27,002 |
| Total | 1573 | 403,319 | 323,433 | |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Year | Month | Events | Total Lots | Lots Sold |
| 2022 | 1 | 169 | 41065 | 34,970 |
| 2022 | 2 | 176 | 46829 | 39,596 |
| 2022 | 3 | 209 | 50250 | 40,806 |
| 2022 | 4 | 206 | 52659 | 43,429 |
| 2022 | 5 | 230 | 70657 | 51,394 |
| 2022 | 6 | 217 | 58069 | 46,732 |
| 2022 | 7 | 184 | 50157 | 40,965 |
| 2022 | 8 | 134 | 29170 | 25,839 |
| Total | 1525 | 398,856 | 323,731 | |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Year | Month | Events | Total Lots | Lot Sold |
| 2021 | 1 | 146 | 36432 | 32,469 |
| 2021 | 2 | 152 | 40993 | 35,469 |
| 2021 | 3 | 188 | 47389 | 39.426 |
| 2021 | 4 | 186 | 48225 | 38,681 |
| 2021 | 5 | 186 | 63921 | 51,371 |
| 2021 | 6 | 239 | 64246 | 52,446 |
| 2021 | 7 | 179 | 52741 | 39,558 |
| 2021 | 8 | 142 | 37459 | 33,682 |
| Total | 1418 | 391,406 | 283,715 | |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Year | Month | Events | Total Lots | Lots Sold |
| 2020 | 1 | 128 | 34180 | 29,956 |
| 2020 | 2 | 126 | 35289 | 28,095 |
| 2020 | 3 | 143 | 39760 | 33,536 |
| 2020 | 4 | 126 | 34465 | 29,883 |
| 2020 | 5 | 140 | 46153 | 38,062 |
| 2020 | 6 | 190 | 52496 | 42,475 |
| 2020 | 7 | 163 | 45589 | 35,784 |
| 2020 | 8 | 120 | 27823 | 24,034 |
| Total | 1136 | 315,755 | 261,825 |
