PBA Auction on December 14th (1 Viewer)

[nymark]

The modern lit auction on 12/14 at PBA will include, among other titles, a copy of Factotum 1/75 with a painting ($1000-1500), Fire Station in wraps signed to William Targ ($800-1,200) and a group of 5 typescript poems from 1971 ($3,000-5,000). Anyone disagree with these estimates?

 

[mjp]

Poem manuscript price is interesting. The high estimate may be a bit high - judging by recent eBay sales anyway - but a lot of that value depends on the poems themselves. Whether they are good and/or well known or just average.

 

[zoom man]

Wouldn't you say the same thing about the books with paintings?...
Are the paintings any good? or not.....
Or are they worth a certain amount just because of the printing limitation that included them?
(which I would agree with)

Does make you wonder about the manuscripts...
They are going for so little on e-bay,
So the quality of the poem is certainly more important?
(Than the quality of the painting?)
Because there are so many manuscripts (right now),
Or, you could rightly say,
Each manuscript is a one-of-a-kinder too.

Egads, it's too much....
Anyway,
Would love to be there for the auction

 

[mjp]

I don't know if the quality of the poems is important - though it was to me when I was buying - but I think you could demand a premium for a manuscript of a well known poem. A manuscript of Dinosauria, We or Bluebird would certainly fetch more than another unknown poem typed on the same day.

But that brings up an interesting point - I don't know if I've ever seen a "famous" Bukowski poem manuscript for sale. If anyone here has one, let us see it!

 

[zoom man]

I don't know if the quality of the poems is important

And what about the letters?, too.
Who is to say what each is worth in the long run?!

 

[MarkDB]

The price range on the Factotum seems reasonable, especially compared to the currently listed items on e-bay with a painting tipped in. The Fire Station price range seems high. I have a near perfect Fire Station (signed in wraps) currently listed on e-bay and have only had the starting bid met ($350).