For the week ending Saturday April 28, 2012 18 auctions were archived; 3 in British pounds, 5 in euros, and ten in US dollars.  Six thousand one hundred and eighty-five lots were offered and 4,851 sold for a 78% success rate.  Total sales were $26,688,451 or 81% of the total of the high estimates of all lots offered.  The sell-through continues to be strong although there was some evidence that expensive material did less well.  It’s assumed that many dealers and buyers were preoccupied with the New York Antiquarian Book Fair and probably somewhat depleted by the extremely busy auction schedule.  The truth is that the high rollers have been in the high cotton all month.

Five sales reached or exceeded 100% of the total of their high estimates:

Alde.  Letters and Manuscripts on April 19^th:  148%

Ferraton.  Books and Prints, First Vacances on April 20^th:  148%

Ferraton.  Books and Prints, Second Vacances on April 21^st:  139%

Henri Godts.  Books from the 16^th to the 20^th Century on April 24^th:  126%

Christie’s.  Travel, Science and Natural History on April 25^th:  112%

The following sales reached or exceeded one million dollars:

Sotheby’s.  Prints on April 26^th:  $9,043,000

Christie’s.  Prints and Multiples on April 24^th:  $7,442,150

Swann Galleries.  Old Master through Modern Prints on April 25^th:  $2,280,786

Doyle New York.  Books, Photographs, and Prints on April 23^rd:  $1,692,301

For the week ahead 11 sales are scheduled:

Tuesday May 1^st  Bonhams.  Prints [19984].  326 lots.

                                    Heritage Auctions.  Photographs [5098]. 192 lots

Wednesday May 2^nd Dorotheum.  Prints before 1900 [9479].  67 lots

                                    Lyon and Turnbull.  Rare Books, Maps and Manuscripts [346].  352 lots

Thursday May 3^rd     Antiquarian Auctions.  Rare Books – Online bidstart 4/26 [18].  521 items

                                    Bloomsbury Auctions.  Angling Collection of George Miskin [35922].  407 lots

                                   Dorotheum.  Art Photography [9480].  260 items

                                    Heritage Auctions.  Rare Books and Autographs – Internet bidstart 4/26 [201218].  386 lots

                                    Leslie Hindman.  Old Masters, Modern and Contemporary Prints [198].  213 lots

                                    Sotheby’s.  From the Collection of Prince and Princess Henry de la Tour D’Auvergne Lauaguais [L12308].  220 lots

Sunday May 6^th         National Book Auctions.   Books and Ephemera – Whistler, Einstein, World’s Fairs, etc. [50612]  381 lots

The market has been running at a fiendish pace and has been due for a slow down.  Enjoy the break.  Twenty sales are scheduled for the next week May - 7^th to 13^th.

Bruce McKinney

AE

Sunday April 29^th, 2012