Back

RR Auction: America’s 250th Anniversary Auction

Auction Reports

Auction Name America’s 250th Anniversary Auction Total Sales (USD) 1,742,550.00
Auction Date July 08, 2026 - July 08, 2026 Low Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 1,057,000.00
Sale Number #757 High Estimate of Lots Sold (USD) 1,378,000.00
Total Lots 74
Sold Lots 43.0 Low Estimate of All Lots (USD) 3,491,000.00
% of Lots Sold 58.11% High Estimate of All Lots (USD) 4,292,500.00
Unsold Lots 31 Total Sales as a % of High Est. 40.60%

Top twenty-five by sale price

Top Sale Price Lots
Lot Number Author Name Book Title Year Published Estimate Actual Price
8026 Franklin Benjamin

Benjamin Franklin Twice-Signed 1,500,000-Livre Promissory Note Binding the United States to Repay France for Funding the Revolutionary War - Printed on Franklina€™s Own Press (1782)

1782 USD 250,000.00 - 300,000.00 USD 484,151.00
8048

Constitution Signers: Complete Set of (40) Autographs with Founding Fathers George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison

1772-1813 USD 80,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD 190,249.00
8004 Hancock John; Adams Samuel

John Hancock and Samuel Adams Letter Signed on American Radicals' Disaffection with British Colonial Policies and "notorious Violations of their Property" (1766)

1766 USD 150,000.00 - 200,000.00 USD 180,315.00
8018 Washington George

George Washington War-Dated Letter Signed to Major Benjamin Tallmadge with Original Franked Address Panel, Directing Culper Ring Intelligence Courier Routes and Referencing Founding Spy Abraham Woodhull (1779)

1779 USD 80,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD 99,850.00
8033 Stone William J.

Declaration of Independence: Force Print from W. J. Stone's Copperplate (c. 1833)

1833 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 85,560.00
8059 Jefferson Thomas

Thomas Jefferson Signed First Edition of the 1791 U.S. Census, Accounting for Free Whites and Slaves - "Return of the Whole Number of Persons within the Several Districts of the United States"

1791 USD 80,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD 75,020.00
8014 Washington George

George Washington Signed 1768 Mountain Road Lottery Ticket - One of About 25 Examples Known

1768 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 52,805.00
8028 Adams John

John Adams Revolutionary War-Dated Autograph Letter Signed to John Hancock, Written While Finalizing the Treaty of Paris Ending the Revolutionary War

1783 USD 30,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD 37,460.00
8042 Morris Gouverneur

Gouverneur Morris Twice-Signed Oath of Allegiance Renouncing King George III, Witnessed and Countersigned by Thomas McKean (August 8, 1781)

1781 USD 3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD 36,978.00
8012 Revere Paul

Paul Revere Autograph Document Signed, Receiving Payment from a Wealthy Patron of His Silver Shop

1792 USD 25,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 34,371.00
8019 Williams Joseph

Washington Headquarters: Orderly Book of the 3rd Massachusetts Regiment with the Newburgh Address and Proclamation of Peace (1782-1783)

1782-1783 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 33,258.00
8025 Hancock John

John Hancock War-Dated Document Signed, Commissioning the Schooner Liberty for Privateering Against Great Britain - "Colonies" Amended to "States" Reflecting American Independence

1778 USD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD 31,291.00
8020 Hamlin Africa

Washington Headquarters: Orderly Book of the 4th Massachusetts Regiment with the Proclamation of Peace and Founding Texts of the Society of the Cincinnati (1782-1783)

1782-1783 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 30,215.00
8073 Jefferson Thomas

Thomas Jefferson Autograph Letter Signed as President, Bypassing Secretary of State James Madison to Personally Assure Spaina€™s Representative of a€œan honest friendship with Spaina€

1801 USD 40,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD 29,915.00
8005 Hancock John

John Hancock War-Dated Autograph Letter Signed as Chairman of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, Urgently Summoning a Delegate to a Committee Meeting in Cambridge (1774)

1774 USD 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 27,496.00
8039 Arnold Benedict

Benedict Arnold War-Dated Letter Signed with Handwritten Loyalist Confession Warning of Enemy Infiltration - Written Three Years Before His Own Defection to the British

1777 USD 25,000.00 - 35,000.00 USD 26,050.00
8043

Haym Salomon and Robert Morris Signed Bill of Exchange for Financing the Revolutionary War (October 22, 1782)

1782 USD 25,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD 23,244.00
8066 Washington George

George Washington Document Signed as President, Appointing a Customs Collector in South Carolina

1795 USD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD 22,878.00
8032 Middleton Arthur

Arthur Middleton Handwritten Revolutionary War-Era Congressional Resolution on Maintenance of Prisoners of War, with Secret Cipher Key

1782 USD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD 22,875.00
8061 Adams Samuel

Samuel Adams Letter Signed on His First Day as Governor of Massachusetts on "the first principles of a Federal Government," Lashing Out Against Judicial Overreach in Support of States' Sovereignty

1793 USD 20,000.00 - 25,000.00 USD 22,035.00
8015 Washington George

George Washington Revolutionary War-Era Handwritten Manuscript Fragment on Raising "a large standing army for the defence of the Rights and liberties of America"

c. 1777 USD 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 21,889.00
8013 Hancock John

John Hancock Signed 1765 Faneuil Hall Lottery Ticket

1965 USD 12,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD 19,899.00
8010 Henry Patrick

Patrick Henry Autograph Document Signed, Valuing an Enslaved Woman and Child in a Financial Settlement During the Revolutionary Era (1776a€“1777)

1777 USD 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 18,089.00
8031 Witherspoon John

John Witherspoon Autograph Letter Signed to Constitution Signer Thomas FitzSimons, Written One Month After the Signing of the Constitution, Discussing Hard-Money Shortages and Princeton Finances (1787)

1787 USD 6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD 14,616.00
8049

Colonial Currency of the Thirteen Colonies (1776)

1776 USD 15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD 14,075.00
  • Sotheby’s Geek Week
    14-15 July
    Sotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
    Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
    Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
    Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
    Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
    Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
    Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
    Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000