Auctions add Glamour, Excitement and Collecting Success
- by Bruce E. McKinney
What makes the upcoming Rare Book Week in Manhattan doubly exciting are both the three 1, 2 and 4 day shows as well the steady drumbeat of rare book, manuscript, map and ephemera auctions that, at current count, are providing 109 event-days of intense auction excitement.
As often happens many auctions are scheduled during the weeks around the New York Book Fairs. For the full month this year we expect about 140 events. As was in March 2019 we covered more than 40,000 lots on offer, with a sell-through rate of 80% and an average lot bringing $1,553. This suggests a comparable performance for March 2020 should convert auction transactions into about $62 million of sales of old books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera.
And let me remind that all fully posted lots are available on the Upcoming Auctions search every day. So, in this efficient way you can find interesting material that may be in New York, across Europe, or everywhere. It’s really a marvelous tool.
Invariably for the collector or institution what’s important are interesting material and time efficiency.
On all Rare Book Hub pages have the world-wide auction search. Run your searches.
