Auction Report: Skinner

The annual Skinner Fine Books & Manuscripts sale was held yesterday morning; results can be found here. As expected, the top seller was the 1776 Exeter, NH broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence, which sold for $380,000 (including premiums). The buyer was Bill Reese. The Thomas Jefferson letter sending a copy of his plan for UVa to a new college made $59,250; a collection of John Miers artwork depicting life in Chile (1820-24) made $47,400 (much more than the $3,000-4,000 estimate); Robert Fulton's copy of The Federalist sold for $10,073; and Audubon's White Pelican fetched $44,438.

The Declaration for Taking up Arms (est. $40,000-60,000) failed to sell.