April 3, 2023Rick StattlerPrinted & Manuscript Americana Collector’s Guide: A Look at Whaling History on Paper Read more about Collector’s Guide: A Look at Whaling History on Paper The adventure, romance, and sometimes horror of the whaling industry have never ceased drawing the attention of collectors. Here, Rick Stattler, director of books and manuscripts, shares a selection of lots that have sold at Swann with a connection to the industry.
Read more about Collector’s Guide: Aviation & Airline Posters November 2, 2022 Vintage Posters Collector’s Guide: Aviation & Airline Posters Nicholas D. Lowry breaks down the best selection of aviation and airline designs to collect for the plane spotter in all of us… People collect aviation posters for a number…
Read more about Autograph Collector’s Guide October 17, 2022 Autographs Autograph Collector’s Guide Swann Autographs specialist Marco Tomaschett shares the ins and outs of starting your own rare autograph collection If you’re new to autograph collecting, bearing in mind a few things while…
Read more about Collector’s Guide: Vintage Car Posters May 16, 2022 Graphic Design Collector’s Guide: Vintage Car Posters There has been exciting and novel automobile advertising for as long as there have been cars. From the earliest days of automotive history in the late nineteenth century through the…
Read more about Collector’s Guide: West Coast Artists May 3, 2022 Contemporary Art Collector’s Guide: West Coast Artists canons of dominant New York and international art markets. What they found among the area’s expansive ocean, relaxed culture, and the dramatic southern California sky, was a booming environment that would become the West Coast arts scene, one that espoused experimentation and collaboration among all else.
Read more about Collector’s Guide: Celebrated Artists & Their Early Works, Old Master & Modern Prints April 18, 2022 Old Master Through Modern Prints Collector’s Guide: Celebrated Artists & Their Early Works, Old Master & Modern Prints An artist’s early career is often filled with many hardships and struggles — this was true for the Old Masters of the 16th century and the Modern stalwarts breaking ground…
Read more about Collector’s Guide: Railway Posters October 12, 2020 Vintage Posters Collector’s Guide: Railway Posters Nicholas D. Lowry Picks His Top Locomotive Travel Posters Among the earliest European travel posters were produced by the railway companies to sell tickets on their new trains crisscrossing the…
Read more about Collector’s Guide: Declaration of Independence June 30, 2020 Printed & Manuscript Americana Collector’s Guide: Declaration of Independence Probably the most common question we get in the Americana department is “I found an original copy of the Declaration of Independence—is it worth anything?” The short answer: it’s worth somewhere…
Read more about Collector’s Guide: Currier & Ives December 13, 2019 Maps & Atlases Collector’s Guide: Currier & Ives Founded by Nathaniel Currier in 1835, Currier & Ives was the major poster firm of the nineteenth century. James Merritt Ives joined Currier in 1857, and the two produced some of the most popular images of the period through 1907—with the bulk of their work being done in the 1860s. Together they published thousands of prints, in three folio sizes (small, medium and large) of scenes that are still sought by collectors today.
Read more about Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: June 22, 2023 Auction Highlights May 31, 2023 Maps & Atlases Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: June 22, 2023 Auction Highlights Our spring Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books sale will offer an arrangement of varied material for collectors of virtually any interest and level. Material reveals the…
Read more about Graphic Design: May 18, 2023 Auction Highlights April 21, 2023 Graphic Design Graphic Design: May 18, 2023 Auction Highlights Swann’s annual Graphic Design auction gets better and better with each passing year. As more people find interest and delight in the material, still others bring us wonderful material to…
Read more about Printed & Manuscript Americana: April 13, 2023 Auction Highlights March 15, 2023 Printed & Manuscript Americana Printed & Manuscript Americana: April 13, 2023 Auction Highlights Our April 13 Printed & Manuscript Americana auction features an exciting an array of Civil War material represented by several diaries, including an officer on a desert expedition undertaken by…
Read more about Old Master Through Modern Prints: November 3, 2022 Auction Highlights October 12, 2022 Old Master Through Modern Prints Old Master Through Modern Prints: November 3, 2022 Auction Highlights This season’s installment of our semiannual auction of fine Old Master through Modern Prints boasts several stellar private collections, each appearing at auction for the first time, including a European…
Read more about Printed & Manuscript Americana: September 29, 2022 Auction Highlights September 6, 2022 Printed & Manuscript Americana Printed & Manuscript Americana: September 29, 2022 Auction Highlights The highlight of our September Americana auction will be a large archive of family papers of Gideon Welles, who served as secretary of the Navy through the Civil War. Included…
Read more about Vintage Posters: August 4, 2022 Auction Highlights June 29, 2022 Vintage Posters Vintage Posters: August 4, 2022 Auction Highlights In keeping with our August tradition, this sale will feature a plethora of World War I and II posters, sought-after classics and never-before-seen Vintage Posters at auction. Among the most…
Read more about Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: June 23, 2022 Auction Highlights June 1, 2022 Maps & Atlases Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: June 23, 2022 Auction Highlights In our upcoming Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books summer sale, bidders can explore a strong selection of scarce New York City related maps and graphics, several maps of an…
Read more about Fine Photographs: April 14, 2022 Auction Highlights March 14, 2022 Photographs & Photobooks Fine Photographs: April 14, 2022 Auction Highlights Edward S. Curtis — The North American Indian The April 14 auction will be headlined by the seminal Portfolio I from Edward S. Curtis’ The North American Indian, featuring many of his…
Read more about Upcoming Highlights: Printed & Manuscript Americana April 7, 2022 March 3, 2022 Printed & Manuscript Americana Upcoming Highlights: Printed & Manuscript Americana April 7, 2022 This auction will have an emphasis on local highlights from different states and territories: an original Texas Ranger’s diary from the days of the Republic of Texas, blueprints from New…
Read more about Caleb Kiffer’s Specialist Picks: Two Rare Finds in the December 9, 2021 Sale of Maps & Atlases December 3, 2021 Maps & Atlases Caleb Kiffer’s Specialist Picks: Two Rare Finds in the December 9, 2021 Sale of Maps & Atlases Our Maps & Atlases Specialist, Caleb Kiffer, often has the pleasure of handling rare and unique items in his sales. For example, take a look at the Charles Currier lithographic…
Read more about Upcoming Highlights: Printed & Manuscript Americana—At Auction September 30, 2021 August 30, 2021 Printed & Manuscript Americana Upcoming Highlights: Printed & Manuscript Americana—At Auction September 30, 2021 Manuscript diaries, broadsides, archives and more, ranging from the Revolutionary era, frontier expeditions, colonial Latin America, and more.
Read more about Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: June 2021 Auction Highlights May 12, 2021 Maps & Atlases Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books: June 2021 Auction Highlights Featuring historical prints such as those issued by Currier & Ives, and plates by John James Audubon, as well as a robust selection of antique maps and atlases.
Read more about Play Ball!: The Unlikely Tradition of Baseball Ephemera at Swann April 1, 2021 Swann Play Ball!: The Unlikely Tradition of Baseball Ephemera at Swann With the arrival of baseball’s Opening Day, spring is truly here. Swann does not handle baseball memorabilia in the traditional sense, leaving the encapsulated gem-mint rookie cards and game-worn jerseys to…
Read more about Early Black-Owned Business Ephemera March 19, 2021 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Early Black-Owned Business Ephemera “Surely you are not going to shut the door in my face!” Since the establishment of the Printed & Manuscript African Americana sale in 1996, Swann has offered a selection…
Read more about 2020: Year in Review December 23, 2020 Swann 2020: Year in Review In a year that was unlike any in our lifetimes, Swann’s specialists and staff proved to be as resilient and innovative as ever, bringing forward new and safe ways to…
Read more about Register for the Legendary Catskill Mountain House Brings $45k in our Fall 2020 Sale of Americana October 7, 2020 Printed & Manuscript Americana Register for the Legendary Catskill Mountain House Brings $45k in our Fall 2020 Sale of Americana Our Thursday, September 24, 2020 sale of Printed & Manuscript Americana brought an 82% sell-through rate by lot, totaling over $600k with at least 23 institutions purchasing a total of…
Read more about Printed & Manuscript Americana: At Auction September 24, 2020 August 25, 2020 Printed & Manuscript Americana Printed & Manuscript Americana: At Auction September 24, 2020 Covering a period of about five centuries and two continents, our auctions of Printed & Manuscript Americana are exceptionally varied in content and subjects covered, from colonialism and the Westward expansion of the United States, to Presidential material and first-hand accounts by ordinary persons of important historical moments.
Read more about Autographs & History Part I: U.S. Presidents July 24, 2020 Autographs Autographs & History Part I: U.S. Presidents In a two-part series Marco Tomaschett, our autographs specialist, takes us through a few autographs by prominent people in history in our July 30 sale of Fine Books & Manuscripts.
Read more about New Record for Richmond Barthé in June 4, 2020 Sale of African-American Fine Art June 11, 2020 African American Art New Record for Richmond Barthé in June 4, 2020 Sale of African-American Fine Art Our sale of African-American Fine Art on June 4, 2020 was met with much fanfare, despite an online-only format due to social distancing guidelines in New York City. The sale…
Read more about Swann Ushers in a New Era of Live Online Sales with Printed & Manuscript African Americana May 20, 2020 Printed & Manuscript African Americana Swann Ushers in a New Era of Live Online Sales with Printed & Manuscript African Americana Our Thursday, May 7, 2020 sale of Printed & Manuscript African Americana was held live online and was conducted remotely. “This was a strong auction regardless of the circumstances. The…
Read more about A New Muse: Robert Mapplethorpe and Lisa Lyon April 16, 2020 Photographs & Photobooks A New Muse: Robert Mapplethorpe and Lisa Lyon Robert Mapplethorpe met Lisa Lyon, the first World Women’s BodyBuilding Champion, at a party in SoHo in 1979 where her black rubber outfit caught Mapplethorpe’s eye.
Read more about What You Should Know About Collecting Exhibition Posters April 8, 2020 Vintage Posters What You Should Know About Collecting Exhibition Posters Lauren Goldberg, our vintage poster specialist, takes us through the ins-and-outs of what to look for when collecting an exhibition poster.
Read more about The Social Document: Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’ April 1, 2020 Photographs & Photobooks The Social Document: Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’ Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother is widely recognized as the most popular social documentary photograph of all time. During the course of her 40-year career, Lange’s style as a photographer proposed…
Read more about Old Diaries Tell the Stories of Overlooked Americans March 23, 2020 Books & Manuscripts Old Diaries Tell the Stories of Overlooked Americans The value of diaries on the market is largely driven by historical content and the quality of the writing. What could your diary be worth?
Read more about Swann in Profile: Harold Porcher March 5, 2020 Swann Swann in Profile: Harold Porcher In the latest installment in our Swann in Profile series, we welcome Harold Porcher as Director of our new Modern & Post-War Art department. Read below to learn more about Porcher, Modern and post-war art, and best collecting practices.
Read more about Hawaiian-Language Schoolbook Makes its Market Debut at $68k in Fall 2019 Maps & Atlases Sale December 19, 2019 Maps & Atlases Hawaiian-Language Schoolbook Makes its Market Debut at $68k in Fall 2019 Maps & Atlases Sale Swann Galleries closed out the decade with a marathon sale of Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books on Tuesday, December 17. The auction brought $910,087 and saw a 93% sell-through rate. Highlights included rare cartographic publications from Hawaii, atlases from across the globe and historic prints.
Read more about Manuscript Diaries Tell Tales of a Growing America April 11, 2019 Printed & Manuscript Americana Manuscript Diaries Tell Tales of a Growing America A West Point graduate blazes a trail from San Antonio to El Paso. A guard in one of the country’s most notorious prisons notes the silence of the inmates. A…
Read more about How to Consign to an Auction December 14, 2018 Auctions 101 How to Consign to an Auction Thinking about selling at auction? Allow us to be of assistance. Swann is a third-generation family business and the oldest specialty auction house in New York City, known for our…
Read more about Records & Results: Early Printed Books March 12, 2018 Books & Manuscripts Records & Results: Early Printed Books Our March 8 auction of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books coincided with the opening of Rare Book Week in New York City. With 94% of offered lots sold, the…
Read more about The Earliest French Erotica February 27, 2018 Books & Manuscripts The Earliest French Erotica A titillating section in our March 8 auction of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books contains two scarce early examples of French erotica. L’Escole des Filles, ou La Philosophie…
Read more about 2017: Year in Review December 28, 2017 Swann 2017: Year in Review In our diamond anniversary year, we offered a star-studded roster of 30 auctions, setting nearly 100 records and introducing countless items to the market, including a previously unknown photograph of Harriet…
Read more about Records & Results: Early Printed Books October 20, 2017 Books & Manuscripts Records & Results: Early Printed Books Our October 17 auction of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books garnered eager interest from bibliophiles, exceeding the sale’s high estimate and earning more than half a million dollars.…