Vintage Comics, Ski Posters, Swedish Castles Plates: Auction Preview

Here are the sales I'll be watching this week:

At University Archives on Wednesday, January 10, 406 lots of Rare Signed Manuscripts, Books, Photos, and Relics, including a lengthy Thomas Jefferson letter to typefounder James Ronaldson ($25,000–35,000). In this October 11, 1812 letter Jefferson mentions the ongoing conflict between Britain and the United States, as well as Napoleon's campaigns in Europe. An October 31, 1780 letter from George Washington about the exchange of two Hessian generals is estimated at $18,000–20,000. A manuscript rough draft of Ronald Reagan's 1981 Notre Dame commencement speech could sell for $15,000–24,000.

Forum Auctions holds an online sale of Books and Works on Paper on Thursday, January 11, in 238 lots. Kepler's Tabulae Rudolphinae (1627) rates the top estimate at £5,000–7,000. A complete copy of Ulrick and Thora Thersner's Fordna och Närvarande Sverige (1717–1767) with plates of the castles and mansions of Sweden is expected to sell for £2,000–3,000.

At Lyon & Turnbull on Thursday, an 81-lot Ski Sale of vintage posters featuring winter sports, including Alex Walter Diggelmann's Gstaad (1938), estimated at £15,000–20,000; and a number of Roger Broders designs, including Winter Sports in the French Alps (1929) and St. Pierre de Chartreuse (1930), each estimated at £6,000–8,000.

Heritage Auctions hold a Comics & Comic Art Signature sale on Thursday, with 1,177 lots available. These include a copy of Superman #1 (1939), a 9.8-graded copy of The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (1963), Showcase #4 Presenting The Flash (1956), The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962), and Batman #1 (1940).

It's also comics at Potter & Potter on Thursday, with 269 lots of Golden Age and Pre-Code Horror: The Comic Book Collection of Stephen J. Farber. Expected to lead the way is Captain America #1 (1941), estimated at $40,000–60,000. The Human Torch (Fall 1940) is expected to sell for $20,000–30,000.

At PBA Galleries on Thursday, 308 lots of Rare & Antiquarian – Natural History – Fine Press, Fine Bindings & Illustrated Books, including Edward Donovan's Epitome of the Natural History of the Insects of China (1798), estimated at $6,000–9,000. The 1795 Foulis Press Aeschylus in Greek could sell for $5,000–8,000. A copy of the first Hebrew-language Bible in Braille (1946–1956) is also expected to sell for $5,000–8,000, and three volumes of the 1606 Heidelberg editions of Conrad Gesner's works on animals bound together are rated at the same range. Some interesting English pamphlets in this one, too.