Reiss & Sohn

The spring auctions at Reiss & Sohn in Königstein concluded with great success on April 23. On the final day of the auction, atlases, maps, geographical books, and decorative prints were sold. The top lot among the 80 atlases on that day was Waghenaer’s famous nautical atlas titled “Miroir de la Navigation,” published in Antwerp in 1590, which sold for €48,000 (rounded including buyer’s premium; estimate €40,000). In the prints section, the rare map of North America, published by Petrus Kaerius, fetched €10,800. At the conclusion of the three-day auction sales at Reiss & Sohn approximately 80% of the lots offered were sold. Even more encouraging was the total proceeds, which reached 95% of the pre-sale estimates. The post-sale will continue through the website until May 8, 2026. Reiss & Sohn thanks everyone who contributed to this success and looks forward to new offerings for the Fall 2026 auction.

Yesterday, bird lovers were in for a real treat. A large and colorful selection of ornithological masterpieces from a well-known private collection was auctioned off with great success as part of the “Valuable Books” catalogue. F. Levaillant’s magnificent parrot book “Histoire naturelle des perroquets” in large folio format was sold to a live bidder on the other side of the world for a hammer price of 55,000 euros.

Another magnificent and unique work, namely J. B. Audebert & L. J. P. Vieillot’s „Oiseaux dorés ou à reflets métalliques“, a 200-copy edition in large folio format featuring “golden and metallic-sheened bird species” with plate captions in gold lettering, achieved a hammer price of 18,000 euros.

Further results, including those for the other auctioned sections, can be found as usual at https://www.reiss-sohn.de/en/auction-sales/ Post-sale starts on our website in course of Friday April 24th.

The spring auctions conclude today with the sale of the remaining lots from the geography catalog, including approximately 80 atlases and town books, world maps and early regional maps, decorative star charts and views, and much more.

With a sell-rate of over 80%, most of which exceeding their estimates, Reiss & Sohn got off to a very successful start on Tuesday with its spring auctions. The lots from the holdings of the Apel Library in Ermlitz, offered in a separate section, opened the day. Here, virtually no lot remained unsold. The highest hammer price of 50,000 euros went to a handwritten musical manuscript by Richard Wagner from the opera „Die Feen“.

The subsequent chapter, “Incunabula and Manuscripts, Old Prints,” was, as in previous auctions, almost entirely sold. Particularly noteworthy was the hammer price of 24,000 euros for a parchment manuscript intended for use in the Mass, created in Germany around 1400 – as well as the hammer price of 20,000 euros for a typical 13th-century “Paris Bible,”  a Latin manuscript on parchment featuring numerous fleuronnée initials in red and blue.

The mining section, which was exceptionally extensive this time with 72 lots, included a large collection of items related to geology and paleontology. In addition to the many international bidders online, a number of specialist buyers were also present in the auction room. Agricola’s “De re metallica libri XII,” a first edition of the most significant mining book of the Renaissance, sold for 20,000 euros; L. Agassiz’s monumental 10-volume work on fish fossils, „Recherches sur les poissons fossils”, changed hands for a hammer price of 11,000 euros.

All results, as well as the catalogues for the upcoming sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, can be found at https://www.reiss-sohn.de/en/auction-sales/