A season of firsts.
The 2019 spring auction season at Swann Galleries delivered an impressive range of sales, rife with auction premiers and record prices. We started our season off in January with an auction of Fine Illustrated Books & Graphics, which set a record for Sonia Delaunay’s Ses Peintures, Ses Objects, Ses Tissues Simultanés, Ses Modes, at $13,750. Our March sale of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings offered Property from the Ismar Litmann Family Collection of German Expressionism and European Avant-Garde. Later that month our popular African Americana sale boasted the record price for any copy of a Green Book, at $27,500, while our African-American Fine Art sale in April brought 12 record prices for key market players.
Vernacular photography was the clear favorite in our February and April photographs & photobooks auctions with eighteenth- and twentieth-century images of India and South America commanding top prices. To follow that up, in May our Old Master Through Modern Art sale brought our first dedicated selection of Latin American Art, which established a record for any print by Diego Rivera, and our 19th & 20th Century Literature saw appearances by rare James Bond titles. Finally, we held our first ever Pride Sale in June, which delivered the top price for a photograph by Peter Hujar, at $106,250.
Here’s a look at some of our favorite highlights from the season, and a few records:
American Art
African-American Fine Art
Autographs
Books
Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books
Fine Illustrated Books & Graphics
19th & 20th Century Literature
The Man with the Golden Gun, first edition, first state with the golden gun on the front cover, London, 1965. Sold for $11,050.
Thunderball, first edition, first issue, with dust jacket, presentation copy inscribed by Fleming to friend, C.D. Jackson, who was posthumously revealed to be a CIA agent, London, 1961. Sold for $16,250.
Goldfinger, first edition, inscribed to Sir Henry Cotton, MBE, London, 1959. Sold for $25,000.
Casino Royale, first edition, first impression, in unrestored first state dust jacket, London, 1953. Sold for $18,750.
Contemporary Art
Illustration Art
Maps & Atlases
Photographs & Photobooks
Printed & Manuscript African Americana
Printed & Manuscript Americana
Prints & Drawings
Property from the Ismar Littmann Family Collection of German Expressionism and European Avant-Garde.
Latin American Art
Vintage Posters
The Pride Sale
Fall Auction Schedule.
How to Consign.
The post 2019 Spring Season in Review appeared first on Swann Galleries News.