Word: auction
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Private book collecting in the U.S. reached its peak in the '20s, before its frenzy was cooled by taxes, the Depression and the increasing rarity of first-rate items outside institutional libraries. During that time it was customary for the great auction houses to announce after important sales that "unless otherwise noted, all books were bought by Dr. Rosenbach." The coolness with which the Philadelphia dealer, by an inclination of his head, would top a bid by ?500 caught the public's fancy, and Dr. R. knew how to keep publicity afloat. Solemnly he advertised: "Shakespeare...
...weather was dreary and drizzling one morning last week as 500 people filed into the silent Ackermann plant of the Wheeling Steel Corp. in Wheeling, W. Va. The men were not workers arriving for the morning shift but guests at a funeral. They came to bid at an auction to liquidate the plant. In 18 hours of bidding, they bought $5,000,000 worth of idle equipment that once had hummed busily under the hands of 1,200 workers. To Wheeling, the auctioneer's machine-gun chant was an old familiar dirge; for years, thousands of its skilled workmen...
...Brussels auction last year, Antique Dealer Victor van Uytrecht noticed two handsome 18th century bronze busts of Roman soldiers in coats of mail. He bought them and took them back home to Namur. There, Van Uytrecht's partner and stepson noticed that one of the heads seemed a bit loose. When he tried to tighten it, the bust came apart. Inside was a wooden box, bound with red silk bands and heavy seals, inscribed Cap. S. Felicis...
Last week Collector Sarlie, 45, put his collection up for auction at London's famed Sotheby's to raise money, partly to finance his Manhattan foundation to aid promising young artists. The Modigliani portrait went for $106,000, but the main attraction of the evening was Sarlie's 29 Picassos-the largest number ever put on the block at one time. Highest price for a single canvas was the $134,000 paid by Swedish Collector Carl-Bertel Nathhorst for Femme Accroupie, a somber painting of Picasso's "blue" period. And by evening's end, Sotheby...
Last week one of the two known surviving copies of the global map turned up for sale at London's famed auction house, Sotheby & Co. Owned by a Polish count, the map (11⅜ in. by 16⅜ in.) roused a gleam in the eye of Manhattan Rare Book Dealer Hans P. Kraus. He pushed the price up to $35,000 and walked off with...