Audubon update

With all the fuss over the proposed sale of the Providence Athenaeum's double elephant Birds of America (posts here, here, and here), the sale of another copy -- missing 11 plates, but never bound and hence uncut -- back in June didn't get the attention it deserved. As this Art Newspaper article noted:

Christie’s sale of Audubon’s The Birds of America on 25 June turned out to be an expensive mistake for the consignors, the Saxe-Meiningen family.

The family had turned down a last-minute $9 million private treaty offer from a Manhattan dealer for the rare set, but chose to sell at auction instead. The sale totalled $5,744,158 (£3,156,130, est. $6/8 million) and individual plates set 10 world records.

A week before the auction, Madison Avenue dealer Graham Arader first offered $8 million, then raised his offer to $9 million plus a 12% commission for the set. “Their advisor turned it down; he should be tarred and feathered”, said Mr Arader, whose Wall Street client wanted to add the set to his significant Americana collection.

There's another writeup in the latest print edition of the Maine Antique Digest, which should eventually be available online.

Though many of the plates brought record prices, what is notable is that intact copies are now bringing substantially more than would be obtained by breaking them up. And the prospects for the Athenaeum Birds -- estimated at $5-8M -- now seem rather brighter.

NOTE: I have just heard that the group that sued unsuccessfully to stop the sale has now filed an appeal. I can't see it having the remotest chance of success, but rationality has not been this crew's strong suit. Nor is this appeal likely to accomplish much as a delaying tactic: the initial injunction held up the sale by months, and with the case ultimately going so decisively against the plaintiffs, the chances of another injunction being granted now seem slim indeed.

Posted by David on September 16, 2004 4:49 PM