Auction
New York Auctions
Swann Galleries
Lot 19 CURTIS, EDWARD S. (1868-1952) The North American Indian. Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska. Estimate $1,250,000-1,750,000 Sold for $1,200,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 6 BEAL, JOSHUA "Beal's Photographic View of New York." 1876 Estimate $12,000-18,000 Sold for $80,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 11 HINE, LEWIS W. "Spinner, Cotton Mill, Macon, Georgia." 1909 Estimate $15,000-20,000 Sold for $50,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 7 (CYANOTYPES) REVEREND H.A. HANDEL Album titled "Views of Meeker," with nearly 250 cyanotypes. Circa 1900 Estimate $8,000-12,000 Sold for $40,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 15 LUMMIS, CHARLES Album titled "Picturesque New Mexico," with 95 cyanotypes. 1889-1891 Estimate $8,000-12,000 Sold for $30,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 134 EISENSTAEDT, ALFRED "Children at a Puppet Theatre, Paris." printed 1990 Estimate $30,000-45,000 Sold for $30,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 5 GARDNER, ALEXANDER & MOULTON, HENRY DEWITT Album titled "Rays of Sunlight from South America" containing 60 photographs of South America. 1865 Estimate $15,000-25,000 Sold for $28,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 16 CURTIS, EDWARD S. "Cañon de Chelly." 1904 Estimate $6,000-9,000 Sold for $22,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 151 KERTÉSZ, ANDRÉ Portfolio titled "André Kertész: Photographs Volume II, 1930-1972," with 9 (of 10) photographs. printed 1973 Estimate $20,000-30,000 Sold for $22,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 199 LUTTER, VERA Lower Manhattan skyline with Twin Towers. 1996 Estimate $12,000-18,000 Sold for $22,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 194 MANN, SALLY "The New Mothers. 1989 Estimate $25,000-35,000 Sold for $17,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Lot 19 CURTIS, EDWARD S. (1868-1952) The North American Indian. Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska. Estimate $1,250,000-1,750,000 Sold for $1,200,000 © Swann Galleries 2012
Swann sold a complete set of Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian for $1,440,000 - the highest priced item ever sold at New York's premiere auction house for works on paper. The top lot in yesterday's auction of Fine Photographs & Photobooks was also the top lot ever sold at Swann Galleries. A set of Edward S. Curtis's magnum opus, The North American Indian, complete with 20 text volumes and 20 folios, brought $1.44 million dollars--more than any other single lot sold at Swann in our 70-year history. In 1952, Swann conducted the first auction devoted to photobooks in the United States.
Daile Kaplan, Swann Vice President and Director of Photographs & Photobooks, said, "We were very pleased to have sold this iconic work by a major 20th century artist. The price reflects the rarity and beauty of this American masterpiece and the interest in photobooks as an artform."
Prices for other early photographs were also strong. A multi-panel panorama image of lower Manhattan from 1876, showing a portion of the Brooklyn Bridge still under construction, brought $96,000 and an album of cyanotypes of Colorado sold for $56,000.
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