North America


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First French version of The Little Prince

17 July 2017

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s much-loved tale of The Little Prince was first published in New York in 1943, with Reynal & Hitchcock issuing it in both French and English versions.

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Thomas More not the merrier at the Tower

17 July 2017

Translated from a Paris version that had appeared earlier in that same year of 1535, an 8pp German newsletter giving an account of the execution of Thomas More sold for $11,500 (£9055) as part of the Eric Caren archive at Christie’s New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on June 15.

Newton was master of the universe but not money

17 July 2017

Sold by RR Auction (25/22.5% buyer’s premium) on June 14 was a financial document of November 1721 bearing the signature of Isaac Newton – an order to pay to a Dr Francis Fauquier the dividend due on his substantial investment in the South Sea Company.

Knoedler art fraudster Glafira Rosales ordered to pay $81m to victims

13 July 2017

Glafira Rosales, the Long Island art dealer who in 2013 pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion in the Knoedler art forgery case, has been ordered to pay $81m to victims of the fraud.

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US retailer fined after seizure of illegally imported cultural property

10 July 2017

A large high street chain in the US has been fined $3m in connection with the purchase and importing of a large number of ancient Iraqi artefacts.

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Goya flop is now a big auction seller

10 July 2017

Preserved in a fine contemporary binding of crimson morocco gilt that seems likely to have been specially commissioned by the artist from Pasqual Carsi y Vidal, a leading Madrid binder, a rare presentation set of Goya’s Los Caprichos prints sold for $500,000 (£393,700) at Christie’s New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on June 15.

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New director of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams New York

05 July 2017

Ian Ehling has joined Bonhams’ New York office as director of fine books and manuscripts.

Titanic

Thousands of Titanic artefacts to be sold after owner goes bankrupt

04 July 2017

A court in the US will decide the fate of more than 5500 Titanic artefacts after the company that owns them filed for bankruptcy.

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Frogs and toads, fairy tales and fantasies from illustrators

03 July 2017

Last offered at auction at Parke-Bernet in New York in 1945, as part of the famed Bronson Winthrop collection, a drawing made by John Tenniel for Alice through the Looking-Glass made $16,000 (£12,600) at Sotheby’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on June 13 – though the saleroom had hoped it might make twice that sum.

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D-Day relics fly high in US sales

03 July 2017

Original D-Day invasion flags may be fragile and rare but a spate of them has appeared on the market recently in the US.

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Beatles memorabilia keeps it reel at auction

03 July 2017

A well-provenanced collection of Beatles and other rock memorabilia will be a highlight in one of Butterscotch Auctioneers’ tri-annual estate auctions at its Bedford, New York, saleroom on July 16.

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Final flowering for Garden Museum

03 July 2017

The collection of Tiffany jewels offered by Christie’s New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on June 20 was the finest at auction in recent memory.

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Phillips launches its dedicated watch division in the US

03 July 2017

Ahead of the autumn sale of a star lot, Phillips' watch expert Aurel Bacs tells ATG why the time is right for the firm to expand its US watch business

A lot that should jog the memory

03 July 2017

One of the odder lots I have stumbled across in the many June book sales is a worn and soiled 12pp autograph catalogue, or calendar of “35 nude male races held on Kersal Moor [near Manchester] between 1777 and 1811”.

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Maths textbook keeps up with the times

03 July 2017

The “oldest mathematical textbook still in common use today”, according to Printing and the Mind of man, is that written around 300BC by the Greek mathematician, Euclid of Alexandria.

TEFAF

TEFAF exhibitor list released for second annual New York edition

30 June 2017

The second TEFAF New York Fall features a total of 93 exhibitors at the Park Avenue Armory.

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Three men charged in New York over fake Damien Hirst artworks sold to a “multitude of buyers” on eBay

26 June 2017

Three men have been charged in a New York court in connection with a $400,000 scam to sell fake artworks by Damien Hirst.

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The bumper book sales season

26 June 2017

As in many previous years, the months of June and July signal the arrival of large numbers of important book, manuscript and related sales.

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Obituary: Samuel ‘Beau’ M. Freeman II (1936-2017)

26 June 2017

Samuel Miller Freeman II – known to all as Beau – was a fixture in the Philadelphia auction scene for just shy of six decades.

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Small and simple miniature book... but big price at auction

26 June 2017

An exceptionally rare miniature book, a 'Kalendarium Evangelia' printed by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp in 1570, measuring just 35mm high appeared at a recent Bonhams sale.

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