• Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare. The Temple Shakespeare. Housed in Custom Bookcase. $6,365.
    Sotheby’s: Frederick Douglass. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845. $14,000.
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol. London: William Heinemann, 1915. $2,900.
    Sotheby’s: F. Scott Fitzgerald. First Edition Set, Including This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, and others. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1920 – 1941. $24,180.
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], John Tenniel. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland First Edition. Macmillan & Co., 1866. $15,000.
  • Dominic Winter
    Printed Books & Maps, Geology & Charles Darwin
    5th November, 2025
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Darwin (Charles). Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands, 1st edition, 1844. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Rashleigh (Philip). Specimens of British Minerals, 2 parts in 1, 1797 & 1802. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Murchison (Roderick Impey). The Silurian System, 1st edition, 1839. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Dominic Winter
    Printed Books & Maps, Geology & Charles Darwin
    5th November, 2025
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Darwin (Charles). The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, 1st edition, 1842. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Darwin (Charles). Geological Observations on South America, 1st edition, 1846. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Sowerby (James). The Mineral Conchology of Great Britain, 6 volumes, 1812-29. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Dominic Winter
    Printed Books & Maps, Geology & Charles Darwin
    5th November, 2025
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Emerson (William). Cyclomathesis: or an Easy Introduction to ... Mathematics, 10 vols. in 9, 1770. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Robinson (Thomas). New observations on the Natural History of This World of Matter, 1696. £800 to £1,200.
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Aquinas (Thomas). [Summa Theologica], Secunda Parte, Venice, 1496. £700 to £1,000.
    Dominic Winter
    Printed Books & Maps, Geology & Charles Darwin
    5th November, 2025
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Parfit (Cliff). Tesuki Washi. Handmade Papers of Japan, 1981-1988. £400 to £600.
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Herbert (Thomas). A Relation of some yeares Travaile... Into Afrique and the greater Asia, 1634. £800 to £1,200.
    Dominic Winter, Nov. 5: Lindbergh (Charles A.). The Spirit of St. Louis, 1955, signed. £200 to £300.
  • Swann
    Autographs
    November 6, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 93: Autograph album containing 29 autograph letters signed by each president from Washington to Coolidge, 1785-1945.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 166: Franz Schubert, Autograph Musical Manuscript, fragment from Die Taucher, 1813.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 111: Thomas Jefferson, holograph plat drawing: map of field near Monticello, 1790s.
    Swann
    Autographs
    November 6, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 208: George Sand, Autograph Manuscript Signed, draft of her one-act play, Francia, ca. 1872.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 218: Walt Whitman, Manuscript Signed, draft of three complete poems from Leaves of Grass, 1891.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 8: James Dean, Photograph Signed and Inscribed, still from Giant, 1955.
    Swann
    Autographs
    November 6, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 20: John Lennon, Typescript Signed, interview discussing Paul, Linda, and Yoko, 1971.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 215: Mark Twain, engraved portrait Signed, "Mark Twain / SL. Clemens," 1890s.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 81: Vaslav Nijinsky, reproduction of an artwork by Léon Bakst Inscribed and Signed, 1916.
    Swann
    Autographs
    November 6, 2025
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 73: Malcolm X, The Harvard Crimson Signed and Inscribed: his street address and phone number, 1961.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 11: Lou Gehrig, Photograph Signed and Inscribed, ca. 1939.
    Swann, Nov. 6: Lot 153: George Gershwin, Photograph Signed and Inscribed, portrait by Renato Toppo.
  • Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Presentation Copy of a Whitman "Holy Grail." Whitman, Walt. $10,000-$15,000.
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Endymion in Original Boards. Keats, John. $8,000-
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Association Copy of the Privately Printed Edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Potter, Beatrix. $8,000-$12,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Christina Rossetti's Own Copy of Her First Book. Rossetti, Christina G. $8,000-$12,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: The Borden Copy of The Life of Merlin in an Elaborate Binding by Riviere. Heywood, Thomas, Translator. $6,000-$8,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Arion Press. Whitman, Walt, Leaves of Grass. $4,000-$6,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Call It Sleep in the First State Jacket. Roth, Henry. $2,000-$3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Steinbeck's Best-Known Work. Steinbeck, John. $2,000-$3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: A Fine Jewelled Binding Signed by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Sangorski, Francis. $40,000-$60,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter: A Complete Set of First Editions. Potter, Beatrix. $2,000-$3,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Kelmscott Shelley. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Poetical Works. $3,000-$5,000
    Bonhams, Nov. 3-13: Inscribed by Martin Luther King Jr. King, Martin Luther, Jr. $3,000-$5,000

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2025 Issue

Basketball Trading Card Sells for Over $12 Million

$12,932,000.

$12,932,000.

“Do you hear that rumbling? It's the sound of the standing world record price for a basketball card getting ready to fall. For five years, the 2009-10 National Treasures Steph Curry Logoman Autograph card has enjoyed the view from the top of the heap, the $5.9 million private sale to an investment fund in July 2021 demonstrating the virtually unlimited elasticity of the market's upper edge.

 

“We're proud and privileged here at Heritage for the opportunity to take the title back for the auction world...”

 

They knew. That was Heritage Auctions pre-sale description of the coming auction of the Upper Deck Dual Logoman autographed 2007-08 basketball card of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. In 2007, Jordan was already retired after a career that many consider qualifies him as the greatest basketball player ever. Bryant was halfway through a career that qualifies him as one of the greatest to play the game.

 

This card was special. It was designed to be that way from the beginning, unlike earlier price record baseball cards from Honus Wagner and Mickey Mantle. Nevertheless, it's hard to imagine that the people at Upper Deck could have expected this. When the hammer went down, the price stood at an incredible $12,932,000. For a basketball card. A small piece of cardboard with a couple of patches and autographs. 12.932 million big ones. That is a record price for any sports card.

 

The previous record for a basketball card was $5.9 million paid in a private sale in 2021 for a 2009-2010 Stephen Curry card. Curry is not some historic figure. He is still active. The previous record for any sports card was $12.6 million in 2022 for a 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card. Mantle cards bring astronomical prices so perhaps he will one day reclaim the throne, but for now it's Jordan and Bryant at the top.

 

Heritage knew the price would reach the sky, but even they did not put it up in the stars. They estimated the price at $6 million, which might seem extreme for a small basketball card, but proved to be less than half the actual selling price. When you combine a passion for sports and an unusual amount of personal wealth, strange things can happen. Such was case on Saturday, August 23. I don't know who was happier, the buyer or the seller. The rest of us can just look in wonder.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Doyle, Nov. 5: The Director's copy of the first edition of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, inscribed by Beckett. $7,000 to $10,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: Don McLean's personal test pressing of American Pie before mass production, gifted in 1971. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: The important and extensive archive of original fashion photographs of model Dorothy Rice, 1945-58. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: A Charles Adams theater advertisement. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: A Small Patinated Bronze Bust of Marlene Dietrich. $800 to $1,200.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: Marlene Dietrich Studio Photograph. $100 to $200.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: The very large and uncommon British Quad for Hitchcock's The Birds. $500 to $800.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: An Original Crystal "Sputnik" from the 1966 Met Opera Chandelier. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: The rare poster from the first American performances of Endgame, 1958. $1,000 to $1,500.
    Doyle, Nov. 5: The original Coconut Grove Playhouse poster for Waiting for Godot, possibly unique. $3,000 to $5,000.
  • Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 75. The Second Printed Map of the North American Continent - Full Contemporary Color (1593) Est. $35,000 - $40,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 37. Schedel's Ancient World Map with Fantastic Humanoid Creatures (1493) Est. $16,000 - $18,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 104. Important Revolutionary War Plan of Battle of Quebec in Contemporary Color (1776) Est. $4,000 - $4,750
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 43. Mercator's Map of the North Pole - the First Printed Map Devoted to the Arctic (1606) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 237. Rare and Striking Bird's-Eye View of Lawrence, Kansas (1880) Est. $2,000 - $2,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 10. Rare Map from Atlas Maior with Representations of the Seasons in Contemporary Color (1662) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 374. Bunting's Map of Europe Depicted as the Queen of the World (1589) Est. $2,000 - $2,400
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 590. Willem Blaeu's Magnificent Carte-a-Figures Map of Asia (1634) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 647. The Earliest and Most Decorative Map of the East Coast of Africa (1596) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 710. Ruscelli's Complete, Third Edition Atlas with 65 Maps (1574) Est. $9,500 - $11,000
    Old World Auctions (Nov 12):
    Lot 696. Superb Hand-Colored Image of the Adoration of the Shepherds (1502) Est. $800 - $950
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