In the auction business the winter is over and spring is in the air.  I know it is only January 8^th but the auction houses are already gearing up.  It will be a busy and uncertain spring for the need to sell will intensify, if only at the margin.  This past week three auctions were reported –

Heritage         Internet Movie Posters on January 1^st

Heritage         Rare Books and Autographs on January 5^th

PBA                 Fine Books in all Fields on January 1^5th

As well the first two days of the Spivey sales in Kansas City took place on January 5^th and 6^th and we hope to report their outcomes shortly.  For Dirk Soulis Auctions these, and those to follow, are important sales.  In the not-so-distant past as few as 16,000 auction records in the United States and 15,000 in Europe were recorded annually.  But collectible material has been accumulating for decades, much of it now listed on listing sites with no where to go if buyers do not step up.  This material is going to increasingly go under the hammer.

In the inevitable recalibration of prices we will find the next generation and they us.  We’ll meet in a civil war and hopefully then grow up and old together remembering the shared courage and agony of hard fought battles.

For the week ahead three sales are scheduled:

Wednesday January 11^th     Lyon and Turnbull.  Rare Books, Maps and Manuscripts (337)

Thursday January 12^th         Bloomsbury Auctions.  Bibliophile Sale (35867)

Saturday January 14^th          Hauff and Auvermann.  Rare and Fine Books (66)

Best

Bruce McKinney

AE