Successful Auction Year 2024 at Reiss & Sohn
Königstein/Taunus – Despite some economic turbulence in Germany and major geopolitical tensions in the world, the auction house Reiss & Sohn can look back on very good Auction season 2024 resulting on qualified consignments and very active buyers. The great success of the autumn auctions made a particular contribution here. From 29 October to 1 November 2024, over 2160 lots were called over a total of four days. Overall, an increase in turnover of around 30% was achieved compared to the spring auction, with the total proceeds exceeding the total price of the lots offered by around 110%. 82% of the titles found a new owner, 450 lots had four-digit hammer prices and 37 lots had five-digit hammer prices. At the beginning of the auction week, the important library of Dr Friedrich von Bassermann-Jordan was auctioned off with the theme ‘Wine’. An international audience had travelled to the auction for this purpose, also on the telephone and of course live online at the computers, and helped numerous lots achieve phenomenal estimated price increases of up to 650%! In total, all 424 lots were sold and the total estimate was exceeded by almost 160%. Godinot’s ‘Manière de cultiver la vigne en Champagne’ from 1722 achieved one of the highest hammer prices of the wine auction at 22,000 euros. The very good hammer prices in the manuscripts section were certainly among the highlights of the other days.
Noteworthy here is the hammer price of 55,000 euros for a German manuscript on parchment, a Nuremberg prayer book for Apollonia Volckamer (Nuremberg 1500). Also worth mentioning is the hammer price of 30,000 euros for a magnificent contemporary anthology of astronomical, astrological and horological works by J. Schöner, P. Apian, S. Münster and others from the years 1533-45, some of them very rare. An Ortelius atlas with over 150 maps in splendid period colouring exceeded the estimate of 70,000 euros with 72,000 euros, while a rare mathematical-chemical work by Jeremias Benjamin Richter, his ‘Anfangsgründe der Stöchyometrie’ rose from 2,000 to 19,000 euros. You can find a detailed summary of the week under https://www.reiss-sohn.de/en/press/
Reiss & Sohn invites you to participate today with consignments for the next spring auctions in 2025 and to build on the successes of the last 50 years together with us! Whether you are interested in valuable individual pieces or extensive collections – our experienced team of experts will be happy to help you determine the value of your works and answer any questions you may have about consigning them in a personal meeting.