First editions of the Book of Mormon seem to be this year's most popular book-auction attraction, with at least three major sales already this year (the Orson Pratt copy, which sold for $180,000 at Swann in March; the Palmyra copy, sold in upstate New York for $105,600 in September; and the Paul Hanson copy, sold at PBA Galleries in October for $103,500).
A fourth copy sold yesterday at Hessney Auction Company (Geneva, NY), making $97,900 with premium. The sale took about three minutes, and the winning bidder was a Newport, CA "collector/investor" who was the underbidder in September's Palmyra copy sale. He told the Deseret Mountain News "that he plans to take the leather-bound book to a bookbinder as soon as he receives it. After it's repaired, he'll keep it in a custom-built protective box inside a safety deposit box. He plans to wait a year, then sell the book; he expects the price by then will have risen to $125,000."
It's cutting it close, but I think $97,900 is close enough to keep Ken Sanders' prediction alive. Plus this copy was in pretty rough shape, which has to count for something.
