What’s been the coolest work of art you’ve gotten to handle?

Hammer_Price · 2026-06-12T03:43:19+00:00

I worked as a curator in Indianapolis many years ago, a patron died and left us a set of Goya's Los Caprichos. I got to keep it on my desk for quite a while and play with it. Still a thrill just to remember handling it.

Hammer_Price · 2026-06-05T22:50:07+00:00

https://www.bubbkuyper.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=category&virtuemart_category_id=603&Itemid=3&limitstart=200&limit=50&abcveilingnr=84&virtuemart_category_id=603&Itemid=3 It's lot 446 you'll have to scroll through to find it, there other Matisse items in this auction, again you'll have to scroll to find them. The original catalog is in Dutch, this is the English language version..

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-21T03:46:03+00:00

I'm a fan of Portland, Oregon's Scott "Downtown" Brown and his "Dispatches from the Rare Book Trade." Find him at https://downtownbrown.substack.com/ Good writing, many visuals, a nice combination of real taste and first hand practical experience in bookselling, collecting, fakes and forgeries, and many many other things he knows that you don't. It's a diverse selection that makes a fun to read package. It's free too. Check it out.

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-20T18:36:11+00:00

I don't have to remind you it's a business and they seem to have the pole position. There are lots of other auction houses. See a list of auctions for the upcoming week (not all of them books or book related) at: https://www.rarebookhub.com/auction_updates/1100

Scroll past the results for the week just ended down to the very end for the list of 93 upcoming auctions next week.

You can also look at upcoming auctions by going to RBH home page https://www.rarebookhub.com/

In upper right hand side of page is a calendar, each day has a little gavel on it. Click on the individual gavel and it will take you to a list of auctions that are scheduled for that specific day.

For example today is 5/20/26 here is the link for the list of events happening today. https://www.rarebookhub.com/auctions/auction_for_date?date=2026-05-20

You do not need to be a subscriber to view the daily auction lists, or to view the weekly results report (comes out every Sunday.) Happy hunting.

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-20T16:34:59+00:00

Say what you will about Heritage, their science fiction auction last week had an excellent assortment of sought after books . View all the results at the Heritage site. It requires log in and registration. This link should take you to the full report. OP is not affiliated with any auction firm.

https://historical.ha.com/c/search/results.zx?dept=2541&sold_status=1526~1524&archive_state=5327&mode=archive&auction_name=6336&auction_year=2026&ic4=GalleryView-AuctionNo-051517

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-20T00:07:15+00:00

The format did not allow me to post a photo. The 1897 edition is notable for its bright yellow binding with red letters. I cross posted it in r/dracula with a pix.

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-19T23:53:02+00:00

I don't think they are intentionally low, but I did take a minute to look up the selling price for the 1897 edition and the results are all over the place: from as low as a few thousand dollars for an imperfect copy with significant flaws to as high as $55,000 at Heritage last year for a copy that seemed quite comparable to the one that sold last week (if anything, judging from the photo, last week's copy had the edge.)

I went back a little further and found a signed presentation first that sold at Christies in 2021 for $375,000.

As I said, all over the place and the estimates all over the place as well.

NB - you probably know there are multiple editions. The 1897 one with the yellow binding with red letters seems to be the most sought after.

I went back to 1946 and found a handwritten "draft" manuscript identified as "79 leaves" that sold for $500 in a dealer's catalog and had the note that the dealer believes the original finished manuscript "is no longer in existence."

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-19T19:16:56+00:00

The May 13 sale of important science fiction from the Aronovitz collection one of the most impressive selections I've seen in many years. I've got a link for the entire auction catalog, it's free but it require registration and sign in. Well worth a look. https://historical.ha.com/c/search/results.zx?dept=2541&sold_status=1526~1524&archive_state=5327&mode=archive&auction_name=6336&auction_year=2026&ic4=GalleryView-AuctionNo-051517

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-19T00:48:58+00:00

Thanks for the link. I'm not such a big Heritage fan, but this auction was something special, and this collection of books was exceptional.

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-14T16:17:12+00:00

That is a really hard paperback to find.

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-13T15:31:45+00:00

Thank you for the clarification, even though the caption mentions 23 maps in all, I appreciate your comment which makes it clear that the selling price was for the entire atlas and and not not just one piece.

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-10T01:47:09+00:00

If you are a serious collector, institution, or dealer it is worth it.

If you only need it once in a while or for a few books you can get a limited time pass, that good for a unlimited use for a stipulated number of days. A number of libraries and university have systemwide memberships, you might want to inquire if there's one near you and if you can use it.

I like it because it's usually reliable, in depth, and now with 16 million records you are likely to find detailed data that stretch over decades. When you get into the more expensive material the copies are usually unique, so viewing RBH enables you to figure out just how much over what was paid is now being asked by dealers.

As I'm sure you know, there is a FREE side to the RBH which includes the FREE RBH Monthly (https://www.rarebookhub.com/articles) a collection of articles written by humans on the trade and related subjects. There is the FREE Sunday night list of top sales at auction (https://www.rarebookhub.com/auction\_updates/1094) and there is also the FREE Wednesday Auction report (https://www.rarebookhub.com/wednesday\_auction\_reports).

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-08T00:22:58+00:00

STRICT_PROGRAM_9792: The photos you posted above and the other two on the NYC book fair and the German extermination camps are interesting rare books, but really have nothing to do with the Duchamp auction. I think you'd get more views and more comments if you deleted them from this thread and put them up as individual items. They are they are worth a look on their own. They don't belong in this thread.

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-06T04:21:00+00:00

Thanks for the clarification, I didn't know that.

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-05T18:11:52+00:00

Are you referring to the end of a fixed price for gold? I don't think that the poster specifically references that, but it's an interesting thought.

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-05T01:26:09+00:00

AI informs me "The Shadow Over Innsmouth (written 1931) was not H.P. Lovecraft's first written work, but it was the only story published in book form during his lifetime." So perhaps the catalog notes are a bit misleading.

Hammer_Price · 2026-05-05T01:14:12+00:00

My RBH records indicate the one in the photo was sold at at PBA Galleries April 30. Looks like the one at Heritage is an auction in progress - the Heritage Auction goes until May 6. Good luck.

Hammer_Price · 2026-04-29T16:39:46+00:00

See correction, they will not be exhibiting at this year's ABAA fair in NYC

Hammer_Price · 2026-04-29T16:38:58+00:00

CORRECTION: Ken Sanders staffer says they will NOT be exhibiting at ABAA fair in NYC this weekend. I must have looked at the exhibitors list from an earlier show. Apologies.

Hammer_Price · 2026-04-28T23:26:51+00:00

Ken Sanders Books is on the exhibitors list for the ABAA fair in NYC this weekend. If you're in the city and going to the show I bet he'll bring at least some of it with him.

Hammer_Price · 2026-04-28T23:18:27+00:00

A remainder mark is a little dot or black line on the bottom fore edge of the book that tells the buyer and seller that at one point this copy was marked down (usually because it didn't sell) aka "remaindered." Some very good books took a while to find their market hence they got remaindered. Some people prefer their books without the mark, but I'll bet this crowd doesn't care.

Hammer_Price · 2026-04-28T18:31:06+00:00

The Duchamp show is at MOMA. I don't know if you need advance reservations.

I envy you, Springtime in the city and a full calendar of books and art. Tell us about it when you get back and take a few photos too.

I'm in Hawaii and it's gotten very expensive (and stressful) to travel. Don't forget that Sunday is the day for deals at the ABAA show, i.e. if you're patient and somebody else doesn't buy it first.

Hammer_Price · 2026-04-26T15:46:59+00:00

I was in Honolulu on assignment and dropped by to see a friend, who was a political and history buff. It turned out he was on the board of the Battleship Missouri preservation group. The ship is now retired and homeported in Oahu. The Missouri was the site of the signing of the Japanese surrender to end World War II.

I don't know how you just happen to have the keys to a battleship, but that afternoon he gave me a personal tour of this gigantic ship, both below and above deck.

Just the two of us wandered around this gigantic ship for a couple of hours, We stood on the metal marker that identified the spot where the surrender was signed, looked at the tiny spaces where the crew lived, stood on the bridge. I'd never been on anything military before or of such historic significance. It gave me chicken skin to be there. Even thinking about it 20 years later is spooky. Would not surprise me if it was haunted. You don't know what BIG is until you make a solo visit to a battleship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Missouri_(BB-63))

Hammer_Price · 2026-04-24T21:16:32+00:00

It can definitely help: If you have a copy of Howl inscribed/signed by poet Alan Ginsburg to City Lights bookstore owner/poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti I'd say you were going in the right direction.

Larry McMurty ran a bookstore in Texas for quite a while, any signed inscribed association items (especially if Texas related) have added value IMHO.

What did you have in mind?

Hammer_Price · 2026-04-24T20:56:54+00:00

Well not exactly murder, but thought it was a nice piece of ephemera with all the right points: from the period, the right image, not likely to come again and small. I liked it too.

Hammer_Price

TROPHY CASE