Auction News Network

Native American Photos May Sell For $1.7m

Edward S. Curtis’ photography is an extraordinary record of Native Americans who were vanishing before his lens. J.P. Morgan and his son financed the production of 500 sets of 2222 photos and 20 volumes of text. A complete set of  “The North American Indian” will be sold by Swann Galleries on October 4^th. High estimate, $1,750,000.

A Thomas Jefferson Letter About Benedict Arnold At Swann’s

After he defected to the British army, Benjamin Arnold’s first action as a General in the English forces, on January 4th, 1781, was to launch an attack on Richmond. A letter by Thomas Jefferson describing that battle, and how little it yielded to the British, will be a highlight at a New York auction of Revolutionary Americana  from the Allyn Kellogg Ford Collection at Swann Galleries. It’s expected to sell for $30,000-$40,000 at the April 17th event.

First Book To Map America

Produced in 1520, this edition by Solanis is the first book containing a printed map that designates the new world as America. The map in question is a folding woodcut cordiform representation of the world after Petrus Apianus, who in turn followed a 1507 world map by Martin Waldseemuller that named America for the first time. At Swann Galleries’ sale of fine books on April 12, it’s expected to realize $50,000-$70,000.

Salem Witch Trial Indictment Conjures $31,300

As a result of the Salem witch trials of 1692, nineteen people were hanged. One of the last was Margaret Scott, a widow in her 70’s accused of “certaine detestable arts called witchcraft and sorceries.” Yesterday her handwritten indictment sold for $31,200, including buyer’s premium, at Swann Galleries in New York. It’s only the third time in 30 years, said the archivist of Salem Village, now known as Danvers, that such a document has come on the market.

African Americana At Swann

Every year Swann Galleries trains its focus on the African-American experience. This year’s sale of printed and manuscript material features over 550 items, with sections devoted to slavery and abolition, civil rights, black power, history, music and literature—everything from a photograph of Tuskegee Airmen (est. $2,000-$3,000), to a pair of slave manacles ($2500-$3500),  to an Ivory elephant tusk recovered from the wreck of a 16^th century slave ship (est. $8000-$12,000).

Swann Features Work of Roger Broders

During the first half of the last century, Roger Broders was a prolific French illustrator who specialized in tourist posters. His subjects included popular destinations like the fashionable Cote d’Azur and ski resorts in the French Alps. On December 15^th, Swann’s will hold a sale devoted exclusively to his work. The top estimated lots are posters for Vichy-Comite des Fetes and Monte Carlo, each estimated at $15,000-$20,000.

The First American Atlas

The first American Atlas appeared in 1795. Published in Philadelphia, it was the work of Mathew Carey, and included 21 engraved folding double-page and single-page maps. Swann Galleries will offer a copy at their sale of Maps, Atlases, Natural History, and Historical Prints auction in New York on December 8^th, when it’s expected to sell for $15,000-$25,000.

Freud’s Invoice

In 1933, the year when Hitler became Germany’s Chancellor and the U.S. was in the worst depths of the Depression, Sigmund Freud was still practicing psychoanalysis in Vienna. One of his last patients was one Roy R. Grinker, who went on to found his own institute in Chicago. Freud billed Grinker at what was then the very considerable rate of $25 per hour. Swann Galleries will sell Freud’s handwritten invoice as part of its autograph sale on November 3^rd, when it’s expected to sell for $4,000-6,000.

Will Capt. Kidd Hijack Swann Sale?

Swann Galleries open a series of auctions tomorrow featuring one of the most eclectic—and extraordinary–collections of historical ephemera ranging from King Charles II’s signed authorization to take over New York from the Dutch (1674), to the trial announcement of William Capt. Kidd, executed for “Murther and Piracy.” UPDATE: The Charles II document sold for $120,000. The Capt. Kidd trial “tryal” report went  for $7,200.

Swann’s To Offer Marc Chagall’s Bible

In 1931 Parisian art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard sent artist Marc Chagall to Palestine to get a feel for Biblical landscapes. What resulted some 25 years later was Chagall’s “Bible,” a suite of 105 black-and-white etchings depicting Old Testament scenes. Just 275 numbered copies were produced, and Swann Galleries will sell one of these at its April 28^th Old Master Through Modern Prints auction, where it’s estimated at $100,000-$150,000.

Update: The Chagall Bible sold for $156,000, and the Egon Schiele for $78,000.

Marilyn’s Last Sitting

Weeks before her death in 1962, Marilyn Monroe posed for photographer Bert Stern, who produced over 2,500 images. Despite the wealth of that material, only one printed copy of this contact sheet exists. There are nine images on it, one of them marked with an “X” indicating Monroe’s negative opinion of the shot. Carrying an estimate of $14,000-$18,000, the sheet will come to auction later this week at Swann Galleries.

A Slave-Carved Ballast Stone

A carved ballast stone recovered from a 16^th century slaveship highlights Swann Galleries’ March 10^th auction of African American relics, printed matter, and manuscripts. The stone, used to shift the center of gravity in sailing vessels, is carved with an elephant’s face, probably the work of a slave during a long passage. Recovered from a wreck on the Little Bahama Banks, it’s estimated at $8,000-$12,000.

Swann’s Claims Record For Catlett Bronze

Swann’s didn’t quite get the $120-$180,000 it was anticipating for Elizabeth Catlett’s four-foot bronze, “Untitled (Standing African-American Woman).” All the same, the sculpture’s $108,000 final price was enough to secure a new artist record for a work in bronze, and it was the highest price paid at the African American Art auction yesterday.

African American Art At Swanns

At 95, artist Elizabeth Catlett is still going strong, living and working in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Two years ago, Catlett’s “Homage to My Young Black Sisters” sold for a record $288,000 at Swann Galleries. Another work by Catlett, completed in 1967 and never before exhibited in the United States, will highlight Swann’s African American Art auction on February 17, where the four-foot bronze “Untitled (Standing African-American Woman)” is expected to fetch $120-$180,000.

Vintage Dartmouth Posters At Swann’s

Since 1911, Dartmouth College has been staging its famous Winter Carnival. Back in the ‘40’s it even inspired a movie, on which F. Scott Fitzgerald was briefly—until he overindulged at the festival– a writer. As it happens, every year for the past hundred there’s also been a new poster for the event, featuring a winning student design. Next month, Swann Galleries will sell a number of these vintage classics from the ‘30’s, ‘40’s, and ’50 as part of its Vintage Poster auction.

Update: The top selling ski poster was Herbert Bayer’s 1946 “Ski In Aspen, Colorado,” which brought in $16,800.