The top 100 highlights of the 2020 science, sci-fi and technology auction year

The New Atlas annual auction round up of all things geeky is bigger than ever this year.

This year we've gone to much more effort, and indeed, you'll get more out of this article if you allocate a bit of time to explore it because it is quite large and has all the links embedded so you can explore anything of interest, and no doubt there will be lots of things you missed during the year that are both interesting and relevant.

It’s an exhaustive look at the 2020 auction year, and includes all the scientific manuscripts, apparatus, natural history specimens, science-fiction, space memorabilia, technological killer apps across history from 2500 year-old bronze helmets to the Gatling gun, from cylindrical slide rules to Enigma machines to the very first computers … if we can find an excuse to relate it to the scientific method and technological excellence, and it sold at auction anywhere in the world during 2020, it’ll be in here.

2020 was a year where nature made its immense power felt on many different levels, not least on the auction block. Superior genetics was recognized with the world’s most expensive lamb and pigeon sold in 2020, with very expensive fish and horses not far behind. Mineral wonders from the natural world also fared well, with some huge gemstone sales, and the world’s most expensive dinosaur topping the listings for the first time in two decades.

Several of the most expensive gemstones in history sold in 2020, as did the most extraordinary array of movie memorabilia from science fiction movies, and some of the remarkably complex technological mash-ups used in creating special effects in movies.

Check out the highlights from another bumper year!

$100,000 | Duros Cantina Alien Mask from "Star Wars: A New Hope" (1977)

Propstore

Auction House: Propstore
Date Sold: August 27, 2020
Official Auction Page: Propstore

The attention to detail of every aspect of the Star Wars franchise is beautifully illustrated by this lot. In the science fiction movie Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi visit the Mos Eisley spaceport on the planet Tatooine. The spaceport contained a cantina (bar) where many of the less savoury characters of the universe congregate while waiting passage off-world, and in the corner of the bar were two Duros (natives of Planet Duro). Duros have smooth blue-green skin, red eyes, lipless mouths, and long thin noseless faces with green blood. Though no more than minor players in a group scene, watch the Duros in animated discussion at the rear of the bar and you will delight in the realism of the scene with alien personas communicating so intimately. A mask used in the filming of this scene fetched $100,000 at Propstore on August 27.

$100,043 | Movie poster from Italian Premiere of "Frankenstein" (1935)

Aste Bolaffi

Auction House: Aste Bolaffi
Date Sold: February 18, 2020
Official Auction Page: Aste Bolaffi

Scary movies dominate the most expensive movie poster sales, with King Kong (RKO, 1933), Dracula (Universal, 1931), The Mummy (Universal, 1932), The Black Cat (Universal, 1934), London After Midnight (MGM, 1927), and Phantom of the Opera (Universal, 1925) all having multiple entries in the top 100 most valuable movie posters, though Frankenstein (Universal, 1931) is easily the most dominant movie poster comprising more than 10 percent of movie posters that have sold for more than $100,000.

In 2020, another Frankenstein poster joined that $100,000 listing, though it was from the film’s Italian release in 1935. The massive 78.74 x 55.12 inch poster captures the essence of Boris Karloff in his most famous role and was the work of famed Italian artist Raffaele Francisi.

While scary movies are dominant, science fiction movies do well too: Metropolis (UFA, 1927), The Invisible Man (Universal, 1933), The Bride of Frankenstein (Universal, 1935) and King Kong all feature prominently on the most sought-after listing.

Just as an aside, Frankenstein has certainly stood the test of time, as Mary Shelley’s novel was published anonymously on January 1, 1818 and some argue it is the first true science fiction story. When Frankenstein turned 200, The Guardian asked “why hasn't Mary Shelley been given the respect she deserves?”, and Readers Digest didn’t even consider the book when listing the 13 Best-Selling Science Fiction Books of All Time.

$100,409 | "Gemma's Rings" - an astronomical ring dial prior to 1600.

Christie's

Price in sale currency: £75,000
Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: December 9, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

Often referred to as “Gemma’s Rings” (named after Dutch mathematician and instrument maker, Gemma Frisius who first published the design in 1534), Astronomical Rings are an astronomical instrument consisting of three rings, representing the celestial equator, declination, and the meridian. The rings can be used as a sun dial to tell the time of day (if the approximate latitude and season is known), or to tell latitude (if the time is known). The rings essentially constitute a simplified, portable armillary sphere. Though this instrument is unsigned, it is almost identical in design and construction to another unsigned piece in the British Museum (1888,1201.316) and both have been attributed to the Louvain school prior to 1600.

$100,550 | "Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison" by René Descartes, 1637

Galerie Bassenge

Price in sale currency: €75,000 plus buyers premium
Auction House: Galerie Bassenge
Date Sold: April 7, 2020
Official Auction Page: Galerie Bassenge

Published by René Descartes in 1637, Discours de la Méthode Pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences (English: Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences) is one of the most influential works in the history of modern philosophy, and essentially codified the Scientific Method.

According to the industry standard reference, Printing and the Mind of Man, Descartes makes three essential points in the Discours: “the truth of thought, when thought is true to itself (cogito, ergo sum), the inevitable elevation of its partial state in our finite consciousness to its full state in the infinite existence of God and the ultimate reduction of the material universe to extension and local movement. From these central propositions in logic, metaphysics and physics came the subsequent enquiries of Locke, Leibniz and Newton; from them stem all modern scientific and philosophic thought.”

$102,400 | The in-flight toolkit flown into space on the Apollo 17 command module, 1972

Julien's Auctions

Auction House: Julien's
Date Sold: July 17, 2020
Official Auction Page: Julien’s

The original in-flight toolkit flown into space on the Apollo 17 command module, America (CSM-114) in 1972, the last time humans landed on the Moon and the last flight of the Apollo Space Program. Most of the 16 number-engraved tools have been fitted with Velcro tabs to secure them in the zero gravity environment. Included is the original Beta cloth case, the parts removal tag (dated January 11, 1973) with matching serial numbers and official NASA stamps, and extensive paperwork documenting the testing of individual tools and the status of each tool having been flown on Apollo 17 for 304 hours, 44 minutes and 20 seconds. Part number V36-601135-501 ... and yes, that is a shifting spanner.

$103,395 | Albert Einstein letter signed and dated 1950

RR Auction

Auction House: RR Auction
Date Sold: December 9, 2020
Official Auction Page: RR Auctions

As one of the most revered people in history, and the best known and most respected scientist in history, Albert Einstein’s signature is pure gold. This is a single page 8.5 x 11 inch autograph letter in German by the gentle genius, signed “A. E.” And dated October 2, 1950. The letter is written to mathematician Ernst Gabor Straus, concerning Einstein's work on the Unified Field Theory. In a highly technical letter, replete with mathematical field equations, Einstein discusses the progress of his work with his former assistant. Einstein is here at an early stage of formulating his final version of Unified Field Theory. Seeking to base the theory in an extension of his relativistic field equations for gravity, Einstein looks to find alternative spacetime metrics compatible with the field equations of General Relativity. Einstein’s efforts here ultimately resulted in his 1954 article on asymmetric field theory, Einstein’s last scientific work.

$103,930 | "Édition originale de l'inprétation d'Hippocrate" by Louis Duret, 1588

Christie's

Auction House: Christie's
Date Sold: May 27, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

Hippocrates of Kos (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) is often referred to as the "Father of Medicine” in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field as the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine. This intellectual school revolutionized Ancient Greek medicine, establishing it as a discipline distinct from other fields with which it had traditionally been associated, thus establishing medicine as a profession. This is a dedication copy of this important Latin and Greek edition, of the works of Hippocrates, commented on by Louis Duret. Louis Duret was one of the main doctors of the French kings Charles IX and Henri III. Duret was a professor at the Royal College, one of the most famous medical practitioners of his time and was sometimes referred to as "the French Hippocrates.” Duret had a photographic memory and knew by heart the works of Hippocrates.

$104,271 | Special Effects Mechanical Alien Head from "Alien" (1979) designed by H.R. Giger

Propstore

Price in sale currency: £62,500
Auction House: Propstore
Date Sold: December 2, 2020
Official Auction Page: Propstore
The chances are that you will know Hans Ruedi Giger’s work even if you don’t know his name. Giger is a master of biomechanical art (a mashup of machine and anatomical forms) and this Special Effects Mechanical Alien Head from Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror movie Alien (1979) was designed by Giger. The Alien stalked the crew of the Nostromo, picking them off one by one after bursting through the chest of executive officer Kane (John Hurt). The head was constructed for the production by David Watling, who also previously worked on the mechanical R2-D2 unit on Star Wars.

$104,271 | Neo's (Keanu Reeves) Complete Costume " from "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003)

Propstore

Price in sale currency: £62,500
Auction House: Propstore
Date Sold: December 2, 2020
Official Auction Page: Propstore

Neo's (Keanu Reeves) complete costume from The Wachowskis' sci-fi action sequel The Matrix Reloaded. "The One" wore his costume in scenes set within the simulated Matrix universe as he embarked on a quest to save the human race from extinction. Neo sported the same costume in the next installment in the film franchise, The Matrix Revolutions.

One of the main factors costume designer Kym Barrett had to take into consideration was the practicality of the outfits and how they would withstand the complex stunt sequences. Several versions of Neo's costume were produced, using different fabrics suitable for the action during particular scenes, from straightforward conversation to flying and fist-fighting with Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) in the storm-ridden City.

The black costume consists of a pair of micro sunglasses featuring green-tinted lenses; a full-length ecclesiastical-style textured woollen coat (labelled "Keanu Reeves., #1 Hero Coat-Matt Wool"); a cotton shirt which displays a mandarin collar (labelled "Neo"); a set of cufflinks; a Zimmerli T-shirt (labelled "KR" and size M); a pair of Trafalgar elasticated braces; a pair of trousers (labelled "KR 32"); and a pair of Andre #1 patent lace-up boots with Kevlar heels (labelled "KR*").

$104,271 | Special Effects Mechanical Werewolf Transformation Bust used in "An American Werewolf in London" (1981)

Propstore

Price in sale currency: £62,500
Auction House: Propstore
Date Sold: December 2, 2020
Official Auction Page: Propstore

In John Landis' horror comedy An American Werewolf in London (1981), the scene where college student David Kessler (David Naughton) transforms into the Werewolf is considered one of the greatest special effects sequences in the history of cinema. This mechanism, which went to auction at prop store in 2020, is one of two "change-o" heads created to showcase the stages of the transformation. The lot comprises a fibreglass skull and hunched over shoulders, featuring protruding vertebrae at the back. The majority of the skin and fur have unfortunately worn away over time, but there is evidence of the original smooth-on urethane skin on the neck, and there are some sporadic hairs still adhered to the piece, notably on the lower jaw. The prominent jaw section displays a set of yellowed fangs.

When in use, the forehead and cheek sections of the piece move outwards and the jaw section extended forwards, opening the mouth. These actions would have been operated on set by a team of effects technicians using air-filled syringes. This mechanism has been sympathetically replicated using electric motors and cables, allowing the piece to cycle through a series of movements that recreate the motion seen in the film.

$106,250 | Xenomorph Queen Model Miniature Puppet from "Aliens" (1986)

Propstore

Auction House: Propstore
Date Sold: August 27, 2020
Official Auction Page: Propstore

One of the most terrifying of cinematic villains, the first time we saw the remorseless xenomorph was in Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) where it hunted the crew of the Nostromo. It was eventually eliminated when Ellen Ripley launched it out of her shuttle. When the franchise returned to theaters in 1986, we were confronted with an army of Xenomorphs doing the bidding of their enormous Queen.

A full-sized queen was created for sequences where she is stationary atop her nest, but this 1:4-scale model miniature was used during the climactic battle between the queen and a cargo-loader-clad Ripley aboard the USS Sulaco. The 1:4-scale miniature was conceived by director James Cameron and constructed from foam latex, polyfoam, urethane, and resin components, all molded around a metal armature and painted black with the Queen’s signature blue highlights by Stan Winston Studios.

$112,500 | "History of the Indian Tribes of North America" by Thomas McKenney and James Hall. 1836-44

Christie’s

Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: June 18, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

The History of the Indian Tribes of North America is a three-volume collection of Native American biographies and accompanying lithograph portraits, originally published in the United States from 1836 to 1844 by Thomas McKenney and James Hall. The majority of the portraits were first painted in oil by Charles Bird King. McKenney was working as the US Superintendent of Indian Trade and would head the Office of Indian Affairs, both within the War Department. He planned publication of the biographical project to be supported by private subscription, as was typical for publishing of the time.

Believing that Native Americans were threatened as a race, McKenney wanted to preserve a record of their leaders for government archives, as well as to share it with the American people. He commissioned Charles Bird King to paint portraits of leaders who came to Washington to negotiate treaties, and James Hall to write biographies of them.
The auctioned copy is a First Edition, Three folio volumes (506 x 350mm). 120 lithographed plates, hand-colored, map and 17-page subscriber list present. Half morocco.

$112,500 | “The Portolan Chart of the Mediterranean” (1617) by Placido Caloiro Y Oliva and Joan Oliva

Christie's

Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: October 16, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

Portolan charts are nautical charts, first made in the 13th century in the Mediterranean basin and later expanded to include other regions, which have been noted for their high cartographic accuracy. The word portolan comes from the Italian "portulano", meaning "related to ports or harbors", and which since at least the 17th century designates "a collection of sailing directions."

The auctioned manuscript portolan chart is in ink and colors on vellum, measuring 921 x 627mm.

From the auction description, this portolan: “represents a committed attempt to adapt an honoured but by then obsolete tool, the medieval portolan, to the facts of early-modern navigation. It shows the features of a traditional portolan, with ample space for medieval bestiary and typified representations of places, but also a chart which records the relative positions of land masses more accurately than the traditionally-calculated angles. The main body of the chart is divided in two to show both the medieval and corrected views of the Mediterranean, enabling the owner to compare them directly. The corrected axis shows Crete and Cyprus aligned on the same parallel. Joan Oliva produced a very similar chart to this one the next year, in Livorno. The two charts have the same essential layout but the decoration in the present example is considerably richer, linking it more closely to the medieval tradition. The similarity of the 1617 and 1618 portolans has led scholars to surmise that even though this example is signed by Placido Caloiro y Oliva, it may rather be the work of Joan Oliva and then embellished by his family member after Joan Oliva departed Sicily.”

$113,279 | "De Groote Nieuwe Vermeerderde Zee-Atlas" (1685) by Johannes van Keulen

Sotheby’s

Price in sale currency: £87,500
Auction House: Sotheby’s
Date Sold: July 28, 2020
Official Auction Page: Sotheby’s

This is a very good early edition of the Zee-Atlas of 17th-century Dutch cartographer Johannes van Keulen (1654 – 1715). Folio (528 x 330mm.), engraved frontispiece and 40 double-page maps, all with contemporary hand-color, 12pp. text, contemporary Dutch vellum.

$117,144 | A pair of Regency 21-inch Library Globes (1818) by John And William Cary

Christie’s

Price in sale currency: £87,500
Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: December 9, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

From the Lot Essay: John Cary, the elder (1755-1835) was a prominent English cartographer, engraver, globe maker and publisher. With his brother William, J. & W. Cary were among the most successful of the thriving London map, globe and instrument trade of their day. This, their largest pair of globes, is finely engraved and hand-colored as issued.

The terrestrial sphere shows the routes of the eighteenth century circumnavigators and explorers of the north Pacific, James Cook and his followers; Vancouver, La Perouse, Phipps, Pickersgill, and Russian navigators including Rasmyloff. Important new information of the American northwest and Asian northeast coasts appears clearly on the scale afforded by this size globe. In advertisements for his 21 inch globes in various of his geographical works, Cary stated that he had availed himself of the voyages of Mungo Park (West Africa); "Clark & Lewis(!)" (Western U.S.); Humboldt (Latin America); Flinders (Australia); Elphinstone (maritime) and Capt. Ross (Arctic). Of further interest is the political border between the U.S. and Canada, indicating that the U.S. controlled lands well north of what the final resolution would proclaim a few decades later.

The celestial globe, with axis running through the celestial poles, was also kept current with the astronomical findings of scientists including the renowned British astronomer Caroline Herschel, who updated and corrected the "Observations of the Fixed Stars" of Flamsteed. "It contained some 3,500 stars, more than any previous globe." (Kanas, 2007).

$120,216 | Volvaria

Piguet

Price in sale currency: CHF85,000
Auction House: Piguet
Date Sold: September 23, 2020
Official Auction Page: Piguet

Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury’s Volvaria, is a 2008 sculpture of fiberglass, resin and steel, painted with nail polish, weighing 450 kg, and measuring 80 x 350 x 350 cm … and it looks like a flying saucer. One of three beached flying saucers (named Volvaria, Pluteus and Chitonia) that featured in Toulouse during Les Printemps de Septembre 2008 and also MAMCO in Geneva, Chitonia is now part of the MAMCO collection while Pluteus is in a private collection. Fleury's work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, and the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe.

$125,000 | "Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (1776) by Adam Smith

Swann Galleries

Auction House: Swann Galleries
Date Sold: July 30, 2020
Official Auction Page: Swann Galleries

With the full title of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, this book was first published in 1776 at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and is regarded as the first great work in classical economics. Even today, it is still one of the most cited books in the social sciences published before 1950, behind only Karl Marx's Capital.

It was a most unlikely best-seller in its time, which means first edition copies such as this are rare with one or two reaching auction each year, generally selling in the $100,000 to $200,000 range, with the dedication copy setting a price record by fetching $307,878 (£182,500) at a Christies auction in May, 2014.

$125,075 | Group of five scientific offprints, each signed and inscribed by Kurt Gödel and Oskar Morgenstern

Bonhams

Auction House: Bonhams
Date Sold: November 5, 2020
Official Auction Page: Bonhams

A group of five scientific offprints, each signed and inscribed by mathematician Kurt Gödel and economist Oskar Morgenstern.

Morgenstern is best known for his work with John von Neumann founding the mathematical field of game theory with their book Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, was, along with Albert Einstein, among Gödel's closest friends at the Institute for Advance Studies, Princeton. Morgenstern held Gödel in high esteem. He wrote in a 1974 journal entry: "Gödel alone remains - perhaps the most wondrous man one can imagine. Hardly anyone knows him. If I were nearer his level (and what a distance that would be to cover!) I would write his life. Perhaps even so I should record some of his thoughts and doings, since the world will know little what kind of man he is. A man of whom von Neumann & Weyl have said to me more than once: the greatest logician since Leibniz or Aristotle."

Signed and inscribed presentation copies of Gödel's offprints are extremely rare on the market, much less to fellow Institute of Advanced Study colleagues.

$128,800 | 1966 Amphicar 770 - the world's first commercial amphibious vehicle

RM-Sotheby’s

Auction House: RM-Sotheby's
Date Sold: October 24, 2020
Official Auction Page: RM-Sotheby's

Given that 90 percent of humanity lives near the water, it’s odd that amphibious vehicles have never been particularly popular. Indeed, there has only ever been one peace-time amphibious car that has sold in large numbers, and that’s the 1960s German-made Amphicar, which produced 3,878 cars, with 3,046 of them exported to the United States. In 2005 we looked closely at the fledgling auction marketplace for the Amphicar, and again in 2015, we surveyed all of the sales of the car to that point in time. In 2020, the Amphicar set a new auction record with the sale of this vehicle, beating out the previous record of $123,200 held by Barrett-Jackson.

$129,972 | A large Ichthyosaur fossil from the lower Jurassic

Christie’s

Price in sale currency: £100,000
Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: October 28, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

The Ichthyosaur was a marine reptile that lived in the time of the dinosaur (from 250 million years ago until about 90 million years ago) and today about 80 species are recognized. They take their name from the Greek for "fish lizards" and are an excellent example of convergent evolution. It is thought that they evolved from land based lizards moving into the sea, eventually converging on the shape of the fish upon which they preyed. The largest Ichthyosaur skeleton ever found measured 16-meters, so although the fossil offered in this sale measures 10ft 9 inches and is indeed large, it would indeed have been a small Ichthyosaur in its day.

$137,500 | Stormtrooper Helmet from "Star Wars: A New Hope". 1977

Propstore

Auction House: Propstore
Date Sold: August 27, 2020
Official Auction Page: Propstore

Screen-worn Stormtrooper helmets have a spectacular history at auction over the last decade, with previous screen-worn helmets at auction having fetched $276,750, $245,000, $240,000, $196,756 (£159,900), $179,090 (£135,300), $126,800 (£65,000), $122,985 (£86,500) and $121,847 (£79,950), and there are plenty more that have sold above the $60,000 low estimate of this specimen. This helmet is a rare example that retains its original painted finish from the first film of the world's most-watched film franchise. It was not repainted for The Empire Strikes Back as many others were. Though some of the original paintwork has cracked and worn, helmets with their original first-film paint finish and original ear pieces are exceedingly rare; less than five are believed to exist in private collections, including this never-before-offered example, which came in at a more-than-reasonable $137,500.

$137,575 | Autograph Letter signed Ludwig Wittgenstein to Moritz Schlick discussing Gödel's incompleteness theorems and Philosophy Of Math

Bonhams

Auction House: Bonhams
Date Sold: July 10, 2020
Official Auction Page: Bonhams

This 13-page autograph letter in German is signed by Ludwig Wittgenstein and was sent to Moritz Schlick, discussing Kurt Gödel's incompleteness theorems and the Philosophy Of Mathematics. Bertrand Russell described Wittgenstein as "the most perfect example I have ever known of genius traditionally conceived: passionate, profound, intense, and dominating." Wittgenstein letters of philosophical import are exceedingly rare in commerce. Evidencing Wittgenstein at his most essential, grappling extemporaneously with the most "astonishing" logical puzzle of modern times: Godel's incompleteness theorem. The present letter is the most spectacular Wittgenstein autograph to appear at auction in the past 25 years.

$146,665 | "Principia Mathematica" (1910-13) by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell

Christie’s

Price in sale currency: £112,500
Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: July 30, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

First edition of all three volumes of Principia Mathematica - a work so important that it is a landmark of modern thought. This copy is exceptionally rare as a complete set and not ex-library. Principia mathematica is considered the greatest single contribution to logic to appear since Aristotle. Whitehead and Russell set out to show how "mathematics could be derived solely from logical concepts and by logical methods … [Principia] has had an influence, direct and indirect, of near Newtonian proportions upon the spheres of its chief influence: mathematical logic, set theory, the foundations of mathematics, linguistic analysis and analytical philosophy" (Grattan-Guinness).

$153,138 | Full Armour In Maximillian Style. Second half of the 19th Century

Czerny's

Price in sale currency:€125,000
Auction House: Czernys
Date Sold: December 19, 2020
Official Auction Page: Czernys

Military technology has always been of paramount importance because when it comes to armed conflict, failure is not an option. Flak jackets made of ballistic cloth with ceramic or metal plates are common among police and military forces these days, but personal armour is far from new, with the oldest known body armour dating from 1500 BC and the first chain mail from 500 BC. Regular advances in metallurgy, design and craftsmanship kept armour relevant for thousands of years, and led to heavy cavalry dominating the battlefield for centuries.

Maximilian armour is a modern term applied to the 16th-century German plate armour associated with, and possibly first made for the Emperor Maximilian I. This armour is made in plain steel, but it is decorated with many flutings designed to deflect the points and blades of assailants and increase the structural strength of the plates. This full set of armour in Maximillian style, though dating from the second half of the 19th Century, is fashioned with the characteristics and expert craftsmanship of the finest sixteenth-century specimens. It was clearly made by a true master gunsmith.

$156,000 | Super Mario Bros. 3 - Wata 9.2 A+ Sealed

Heritage Auctions

Auction House: Heritage
Date Sold: November 22, 2020
Official Auction Page: Heritage

The collecting of Video Console games in general is on the rise, as is the collecting of Nintendo Video Game Console games and beyond that, the collecting of Super Mario games and memorabilia is also reaching unprecedented levels. On one hand it is surprising that prices entered the stratosphere so quickly in 2020, with such a steep price trajectory, but when you consider that Mario is the best-selling video game franchise of all-time with 653 million games sold, and the Super Mario series sold 348 million games on its own, the sheer magnitude of those numbers represents a sizeable chunk of humanity.

The only other games franchise with comparable numbers is Pokemon with 368 million games sold. In the modern era of mixed media franchises, it is sometimes difficult to comprehend the value of a brand and how much it has imprinted itself on the psyche of hundreds of millions of human beings.

Given that the most successful people with the largest amount of disposable income drive each individual collector marketplace, and a significant percentage of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs spent a significant percentage of their youth interacting with Shigeru Miyamoto’s lovable Italian plumber, then Mario will almost certainly smash more price records over the next few years.

Conjecture aside, Super Mario Bros. twice set world records in 2020 for the highest price paid for a video game at auction.

On July 10, 2020, Heritage Auctions sold the highest-graded copy of Super Mario Bros. to that time for a record $114,000.

At the same auction, the only-known sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 (Wata 9.0 A Sealed "Left, First Production", NES Nintendo 1990 USA ) sold for $38,400. The variant's "Left, First Production" moniker refers to the formatting of "Bros." on the front of the box, which confirms that this copy is from the earliest production run of the title, effectively the equivalent to a "First Edition" in books. Sealed copies are unquestioned rarities, with the lot sold here believed to be one of fewer than 10 in existence.
Then, on November 22, another first production sealed copy of the 1990 Nintendo NES “Super Mario Bros. 3” game went to auction with a grading of “Wata 9.2 A+”, selling for $156,000 at Heritage Auctions. Just a short 35 years prior, you could have found one at a retail store for $49.99. If Mario Bros. isn't your schtick, perhaps apply the same logic to what can now be purchased as commonplace but will be highly prized in 20, 30 or 50 years time.

$156,000 | Japanese Tin Litho Battery-Operated Machine Man Robot by Masudaya c. 1959

Dan Morphy Auctions

Auction House: Morphys
Date Sold: September 24, 2020
Official Auction Page: Morphys

While Japan was repurposing its manufacturing base post-WW2, it made a lot of Tin Lithograph toys for the children of rich countries, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s before the advent of plastics. The cream of that crop came from Masudaya, which manufactured a range of high quality Tin Litho battery-operated toys, including a range of 15-inch-tall toy robots and the world’s very first remote control toy - a toy robot named Radicon. Another of Masudaya’s toy robots is named Target robot and it comes with a target on its chest and a plastic pistol that shoots darts - the aim being to shoot the moving robot.

In the 1990s, the rarest of the five toy robots manufactured by Masudaya, a limited edition robot named Machine Man, began to make waves at auction. In 1996 the very first Masudaya Machine Man ever to go to public auction sold for $42,500 at Sotheby’s during the sale of the Matt Wyse Collection, and the following December (1997), Sotheby’s sold another Machine Man for $74,000.

In the intervening 23 years, the 15 known Machine Man robots have reached auction from time-to-time, and whenever one appears, records have been threatened. Morphys sold a Machine Man in 2010 for $45,600, Philip Weiss Auctions sold one in 2014 for $44,850, and the record was finally broken in 2019 when Morphy sold another Machine Man for $86,100, securing a spot in our end-of-year technology auction round-up.

This year, one of the prizes of the toy collecting trade came to auction: an “attic find” 16th Masudaya Machine Man with its original box sold for almost double the previous record.

$156,250 | Waldseemuller's Tabula Terre Nove (1513) - the first obtainable printed map to focus on the New World

Arader Galleries

Auction House: Arader Galleries
Date Sold: December 6, 2020
Official Auction Page: Arader Galleries

Martin Waldseemuller's Tabula Terre Nove is the first obtainable printed map to focus on the New World. Commonly known as the Admiral's Map, it is preceded only by the small map of the Spanish Main by Peter Martyr in Seville, 1511 (12 surviving examples known) and Johannes Stobnicza's map of 1512 (3 surviving known examples). The present work was the most important map included in Johann Schott's edition of Ptolemy's Geographia, published in Strasbourg in 1513. Given its radical role in asserting the existence of the New World, it was perhaps ironic that it appeared in an edition of Ptolemy, for it helped to shatter the traditional Ptolemaic conventions of geography.The Tabula Terre Nove was the most important map included in Martin Waldseemuller's 1513 Ptolemaic atlas. Completed just twenty years after the discovery of America, it was without question the best representation of the New World to date.

$156,250 | Crystallized Gold from Pontes e Lacerda, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Heritage Auctions

Auction House: Heritage
Date Sold: March 14, 2020
Official Auction Page: Heritage

While gold mining has been common practice across the planet for 7000 years, the precious metal occurs in crystal form in only a few select locations and is still extremely rare. Formed at great depths, under enormous heat, beautiful natural crystals waited hundreds of millions of years to be found by sheer luck in a farm field in Brazil. This truly remarkable example features sharply crystallized, three-dimensional shapes considered extremely rare and desirable for Gold. Likely only 1 in 1,000 mines produces such incredible forms of the coveted crystallized Gold, and the specimen, weighing a substantial 379 grams, is very large for the type. The combination of size, rarity and aesthetics makes this striking example a superlative crystallized Gold. This offering represents 12.18 troy ounces (379 grams) of high purity gold in a supreme quality collector specimen, with measurements of 3.54 x 1.57 x 1.41 inches (9 x 4 x 3.6 cm).

$156,250 | Neil Armstrong And Michael Collins NASA Apollo 11 Translation Controller

Julien's Auctions

Auction House: Julien's
Date Sold: July 17, 2020
Official Auction Page: Julien's

One of a number of pieces of the controls of Apollo 11 to go to auction in 2020. This is the original T-handle translational control stick from the Apollo 11 command module Columbia (CSM-107) in 1969. This control handle, positioned near the left hand of astronaut and mission commander Neil Armstrong (located in the left couch of the command module) allowed changes to the spacecraft’s trajectory and direction with thrust and was used particularly while docking the command module with the lunar module, known as the Eagle, an operation carried out by Michael Collins. This control handle, when turned counterclockwise, also allowed Armstrong to abort the mission during the initial launch phase if the crew encountered any problems at lift-off.

$158,639 | Euclid's Elements by 13th Century Polymath Nasir Al-Din Al-Tusi (1274)

Sotheby’s

Auction House: Sotheby’s
Date Sold: July 10, 2020
Official Auction Page: Sotheby’s

Greek mathematician Euclid of Alexandria wrote Elementorum geometricorum libri XV around 300 BC, and it remained the primary textbook for teaching mathematics in general and geometry in particular, until the early 20th century. It is the only writing of classical antiquity to have a continuous history of textbook use from the pre-Christian era to the twentieth century. It was originally written by Euclid in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt c. 300 BC, translated from the Arabic text 900 years ago by Adelard of Bath, edited 800 years ago by Campanus of Novara, and first printed in Venice on May 25, 1482. It was hence one of the very earliest mathematical works to be printed after the invention of the printing press and has been estimated to be second only to the Bible in the number of editions published since the first printing in 1482. Readers will recognize some of the diagrams in this book from the textbooks of their youth.

Each year a copy of Euclid’s Elements seems to manage a spot in our annual auction review of scientific documents. In 2018 Christie’s sold a first edition of this work, printed in Venice in May, 1482 for £284,750 ($376,905), making it the second most expensive copy ever sold, behind only another first edition sold by Sotheby's in 2001 for $511,750.
This year, Euclid made his presence felt on our listing 2300 years after his earthly demise via a different route, when a copy of Euclid's Elements by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi’s went to auction.

Persian polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (A.D. 1201-1274) was responsible for editions of most of the Greek astronomical and mathematical works that had been translated into Arabic in the 8th-10th centuries. Al-Tusi based his recension on the translations of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in the early 9th century and Thabit ibn Qurra at the end of the 9th century, preferring the latter.

Remarkably, though this lot sold for £125,000 ($158,639), it previously went to auction in 2009, when it fetched GBP193,250 (US$307,151 based on the exchange rates of 7 October 2009). Someone got a bargain!

$162,663 | E11 Stormtrooper Blaster from "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" (1983)

Propstore

Price in sale currency: £97,500
Auction House: Propstore
Date Sold: December 2, 2020
Official Auction Page: Propstore

A stormtrooper blaster from Richard Marquand's Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Stormtroopers carried their standard-issue E-11 imperial blaster rifles throughout the film, including the Death Star docking bay sequence and the battle of Endor.

While the first two Star Wars films used stormtrooper blasters made from blank-firing Sterling rifles, slightly redesigned E-11 blasters were specifically fabricated for Return of the Jedi out of non-firing Sterling L2A2 replicas made by Model Gun Corporation of Japan (MGC). No blank-firing stormtrooper blasters were used for Return of the Jedi.

$164,491 | "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, libri VI" by Nikolas Copernicus

Zisska and Lacher

Auction House: Zisska and Lacher
Date Sold: July 23, 2020
Official Auction Page: Zisska and Lacher

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres), by Nicolaus Copernicus was published less than 500 years ago, and for the first time presented compelling evidence that the Earth was not the center of the universe with Copernicus' heliocentric theory. This book was published in 1543, though its core text was written at least 30 years prior, and Copernicus resisted publication for many decades due to its heretical implications. He was finally handed one of the first printed copies on his death bed.

More than just contradicting religious doctrine, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium threatened mankind's self perception. As Sigmund Freud so eloquently put it in his A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis (delivered as lectures between 1915 and 1917 and translated into English in 1920): "Humanity has in the course of time had to endure from the hands of science two great outrages upon its naive self-love. The first was when it realized that our earth was not the center of the universe, but only a tiny speck in a world-system of a magnitude hardly conceivable; this is associated in our minds with the name of Copernicus, although Alexandrian doctrines taught something very similar. The second was when biological research robbed man of his peculiar privilege of having been specially created, and relegated him to a descent from the animal world, implying an ineradicable animal nature in him: this transvaluation has been accomplished in our own time upon the instigation of Charles Darwin, Wallace, and their predecessors, and not without the most violent opposition from their contemporaries. But man's craving for grandiosity is now suffering the third and most bitter blow from present-day psychological research which is endeavoring to prove to the 'ego' of each one of us that he is not even master in his own house, but that he must remain content with the veriest scraps of information about what is going on unconsciously in his own mind. We psychoanalysts were neither the first nor the only ones to propose to mankind that they should look inward; but it appears to be our lot to advocate it most insistently and to support it by empirical evidence which touches every man closely."

Three times a copy of this book has sold for more than US$1.0 million. The most valuable first edition copy of Copernicus’ master work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium fetched $2,210,500 at a Christie's (New York), June, 2008 auction. Another copy sold for $1,295,767 (£825,250) at a Sotheby's auction in November, 2011, and another for $1,069,805 at a Christies auction in December, 2013.

$171,875 | Cape worn by Christopher Reeve in Superman I, II and most likely III

Julien’s Auctions

Auction House: Julien’s Auctions
Date Sold: July 17, 2020
Official Auction Page: Julien’s Auctions

When a movie is filmed, most of the costumes and major props have two, three and sometimes more identical copies, because once a film crew and cast is assembled, it costs so much money per minute that delays are financially unacceptable. In December 2019 Julien’s Auctions sold the most expensive Superman cape ever auctioned, fetching $193,750. The cape was used in Superman (1978) and was one of six original capes made for and used in the film. This year another of Superman’s Cape worn by Christopher Reeve in Superman I, II and perhaps III, sold for $171,875 at Julien’s Auctions on July 17, 2020. The cape was primarily used for both studio blue screen traveling matte wire flying and studio ZOPTIC front projection flying.

$175,000 | “Il Disegno Del Discoperto Della Nova Franza” (1566) by Paolo Forlani

Arader Galleries

Auction House: Arader Galleries
Date Sold: October 11, 2020
Official Auction Page: Arader Galleries

Il Disegno Del Discoperto Della Nova Franza, il quale s'e hauuto ultimamente dalla nouissima nauigatione de Franzesi in quel luogo (1566) by Paolo Forlani is the earliest printed map devoted to the continent of North America, and the first map to show the strait of anian which separates America from Asia. The John Rennie Short description of this rare map: “A great example of the golden period of Venetian mapmaking. In the sixteenth century a number of mapmakers were working out of Venice. Many employed the distinctive style of small copper plate engravings, Mapmakers included Giacomo Gastadi (1500-1565), Bolognino Zaltieri (1555-1576) and Paolo Forlani who flourished between 1560 and 1571). They drew on each other work and ideas to produce world maps and maps of the New World This map reveals the state of European knowledge of the time. The Spanish territories in the Caribbean ad Central America, and French claims in along the St Lawrence are better known than the vast interior of New France. The map reveals a New World only just being colonized. The vast interior still remains something of a mystery. The world has yet to be fully comprehended: the lonely island of Japan sits in the middle of Pacific yet to be fully integrated into an accurate world view.”

$174,503 | Majmu'at Al-Mutawassitat, ('The Compendium Of Intermediate Books')

Sotheby’s

Auction House: Sotheby’s
Date Sold: July 10, 2020
Official Auction Page: Sotheby’s

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's Kitab al-Mutawassitat was a compendium of works described by him as "intermediate", (between Euclid's Elements and Ptolemy's Almagest) and it contained a group of treatises on mathematics and astronomy of which, in most cases, he had written commentaries or new editions himself. In the case of the present volume, several of the individual treatises have colophons, which refer to the dates of the editing of these texts and sometimes mention the "author". In all cases these dates are between 651 and 663 AH (1253-65 AD).

$180,000 | Son of Frankenstein (1939) (22" X 28") Movie Poster

Heritage Auctions

Auction House: Heritage
Date Sold: November 22, 2020
Official Auction Page: Heritage

Son of Frankenstein followed after Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) in the film series. The design of the half sheet Son of Frankenstein poster that appeared at auction in November 2020 is so rare that even Heritage Auctions, the largest auction house in America, had only sold one copy of this poster prior - a copy of the poster had sold in 2007 for $89,625. This was Boris Karloff's last appearance in the role as the monster at 51 years of age.

$182,400 | The Invisible Man (1933) (27" X 41") Movie Poster

Heritage Auctions

Auction House: Heritage
Date Sold: March 22, 2020
Official Auction Page: Heritage

Sometimes referred to as the "Shakespeare of science fiction”, Herbert George Wells (1866 - 1946) was an English writer who gave us such classics as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The First Men in the Moon, The Shape of Things to Come, When the Sleeper Wakes and The Invisible Man.

The 1933 Universal Pictures movie The Invisible Man is based on Wells’ 1897 novel of the same name, and is generally regarded as one of the greatest movies of all-time, having been selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Two different designs of One Sheet (27" X 41") promotional poster for this movie are among the most valuable movie posters of all-time, and near perfect examples of both designs went to public auction in 2020.

This is now the most valuable example of one of those designs and you’ll need to keep going down this list (down the page, up in price) to find the other.

$183,575 | The Holy Land (Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia) 1842-1849, subscribers' copy, coloured by hand

Sotheby’s

Price in sale currency: £138,600
Auction House: Sotheby’s
Date Sold: November 17, 2020
Official Auction Page: Sotheby’s

Roberts's Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia, was one of the most elaborate ventures of nineteenth-century publishing, providing the most comprehensive series of views of the monuments, landscape, and people of the Near East. It is one of the greatest of all the colour plate books published in the nineteenth century. This is a First Edition, deluxe subscribers' copy, coloured by hand over six volumes and free of the spotting often found in the deluxe edition.

$192,000 | KITT Knight Rider 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

Julien’s Auctions

Auction House: Julien's
Date Sold: July 17, 2020
Official Auction Page: Julien's

If James Bond’s gadget-festooned Aston Martin DB5 was the most recognizable car in the world during the 1960s, then the KITT Knight Rider 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Universal Studios’ Knight Rider (MCA TV, 1982-1987) smash hit television series was most likely more recognizable during the 1980s … and technologically far more interesting. KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand) was, at least for screen purposes, an A.I. computer module inside a highly advanced robotic vehicle.

Between 1983 and 1986, Hollywood Productions Inc. was contracted by Universal Studios to promote Knight Rider with the appearance of KITT at select car shows across the United States. These cars were created by Hollywood Productions under a licensing agreement with Universal Studios and were then advertised on local television stations, newspapers, fliers, and all other media as “KITT from Knight Rider” coming to “a car show in your hometown!”

The heart of K.I.T.T. is a computer which gives scores of digital readouts to monitor every aspect of its physical state. It is also equipped with a surveillance scanner on its nose which can detect activity, interiors of structures, persons in the area, etc. The exterior of K.I.T.T. consists of an indestructible material whose nature is classified. The car has retro-rockets to boost it over roadblocks and a grappling hook. Other special effects include an ejection seat, a tear gas system, smoke screen and oil slick devices, automatic driving mode and a collision-avoidance system.”

$199,220 | E. Leitz New York Leica Gun RIFLE

Leitz Photographica

Auction House: Leitz Photographica
Date Sold: November 21, 2020
Official Auction Page: Leitz Photographica

The concept of using the same steady aim of a rifle form factor to point a camera has been with us since the very beginnings of the recorded image. Produced for just one year, and sold in very small numbers, the Leica Gun RIFLE is now rare and very valuable, as can be seen by the €168,000 ($200,000) result of this latest specimen at auction. Considering that there are thought to be only 12-14 such devices extant, the price seems to vary considerably. In 2016, two Leica Gun RIFLEs sold at auction, each fetching the same €168,000. Compared to recent sales though, this was a bargain, as the same Leitz Photographica auction in November 2019 saw a Leice Gun RIFLE sell for €264,000 ($290,970), and the original prototype sold for €288,000 ($324,400) in June 2015.

$200,000 | “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” by Charles Darwin

Christie’s

Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: July 18, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

Charles Darwin's masterwork, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, is unquestionably one of the most important books ever published. Just 1200 copies were initially printed (that is, First Editions) and an outlier result in 2017 appears to have catalyzed many first editions to reach auction in 2018 and 2019. The outlier result was a copy of the third edition, complete with Darwin's hand-written revisions, that sold for $1,054,100 (£788,75) at a Christie's auction on December 13, 2017.

In 2018, first editions sold for MXN 5,551,200 ($288,662) by Morton Subastas in Mexico City, $284,839 (£212,500 at Sotheby's on July 10), $162,500 (at Christie's New York on December 4), $125,869 (€109,946 at Artcurial Paris on November 19) and $138,698 (£105,000 at Bonhams London on June 20).

The oversupply of 2018 continued in 2019 with the highest price of $564,500 at Hindman setting a new record for a first edition, and other results also very healthy: $500,075 at Bonhams (New York, on June 13, 2019); $280,403 at Christie’s (£225,000 in London on July 9); $266,475 Aguttes (€240,500 in Paris on November 17, 2019); $198,519 Lyon & Turnbull (£162,500 in Edinburgh on October 9); and $196,478 at Bonhams (£150,062 in London on December 4).

In 2020, the oversupply of First Editions dried up somewhat, with this copy the highest priced at $200,000, another at $168,825 in Bonhams’ Los Angeles History of Science and Technology sale, and $112,500 at Hindman Auctions in Chicago on October 8, 2020. Full copy available on the internet

$213,038 | The Skull of a Triceratops

Christie’s

Price in sale currency: £175,000
Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: May 22, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

The three-horned, beaked and frill-necked Triceratops was one of the largest creatures to have ever roamed our planet, growing up to nine meters long and 12 tonnes in weight. Triceratops was native to Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota, and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, becoming extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago.

Despite one of the most fearsome profiles of any animal, the Triceratops was a herbivore and thanks to having such a sturdy skull, spectacular Triceratops fossils are relatively plentiful, given that 66 million years is a very long time.

Triceratops horns go to auction most years with Christies and Heritage seemingly doing the most Triceratops business, and prices ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 for a Triceratops horn and $2000 to $20,000 for a Triceratops vertebrae.

Heritage

Full Triceratops skulls are much rarer, but they represent the best bang-per-buck of any dinosaur in terms of sheer visual impact. Triceratops had an unusually large skull – roughly one third of its entire length was skull – so the skull is by far the most impressive and distinctive skull in fossildom. Triceratops skulls are often over 10 feet in length, with recent auction sales ranging from $180,000 to $300,000: £193,875 ($302,317) at Christie’s in September, 2013, $250,950 at Heritage in January, 2009, $ 242,200 at Bonhams in June, 2009, €177,800 ($188,106) at Binoche et Giquello in March, 2017 and $187,500 at Heritage in November, 2017.

Bonhams

Full triceratops skeletons are extremely rare, with only a few having been to auction this century, and only one selling, such are the high expectations of vendors and hence high reserve prices. In April 2008, Christie’s took a 70 percent complete, 25 ft long Triceratops skeleton to auction in Paris, but the high bid of €490,000 ($780,000) fell short of the reserve price.

Similarly, in November, 2013, Bonhams took a 26-foot-long Triceratops to auction (65% bone, 24-inch horns, 10 foot tall) with an expectation of $700,000 to $900,000 but bidding failed to make reserve. Indeed, the only full (well, 75% bone) Triceratops skeleton to sell at auction fetched $657,250 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas in June 2011.

$218,777 | Letters from Charles Darwin to Professor Henslow 1835

Sotheby’s

Price in sale currency: £163,800
Auction House: Sotheby’s
Date Sold: December 8, 2020
Official Auction Page: Sotheby’s

During his years on the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin wrote regularly to the Rev. Professor John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), the Professor of Botany at Cambridge University. As an undergraduate, Darwin had been mentored by Henslow: it was the conversation at Henslow's Friday soirées that inspired Darwin to pursue natural history. It was Henslow who encouraged Darwin to learn geology from the great Adam Sedgwick, and it was Henslow who recommended Darwin to Captain FitzRoy of the Beagle. Darwin's letters to Henslow from the Beagle were full of botanical and geological observations and discoveries including unrecorded specimens and tantalizing fossils, conveying his enthusiasm and excitement in pellucid prose. When Henslow read excerpts from these letters at a meeting of the Cambridge Philosophical Society on 16 November 1835, they generated so much excitement that Henslow decided to reproduce them in a pamphlet for circulation with the Society. This lot is a First Edition of that compilation of letters and sold for $218,777 at Sotheby’s on December 8, 2020.

$227,679 | Voigtländer Daguerreotype Camera 1840

Leitz Photographica

Price in sale currency:€192,000
Auction House: Leitz Photographica
Date Sold: November 21, 2020
Official Auction Page: Leitz Photographica

The cannon-shaped camera is also one of the most recognizable constructions from the first days of photography. The focusing screen is positioned at the widest part of the camera, and there is a magnifier in the shorter of the two cones to aid focusing. Once the picture was sharp, the photographer had to go into the darkroom and swap the focusing screen for a daguerreotype plate.

The offered example is in fine, original condition and it has never been restored. Reportedly 600 of these cameras have been sold until 1842, but only around 10 are still known to exist. This is the first time a camera of this type is offered in a public auction. It is one of the most important cameras in the history of photography.

$228,000 | The Invisible Man (Universal, 1933) Movie Poster

Heritage Auctions

Auction House: Heritage Auctions
Date Sold: July 26, 2020
Official Auction Page: Heritage Auctions

Two different designs of One Sheet (27" X 41") promotional poster for the 1933 movie are among the most valuable movie posters of all-time, and near perfect examples of both designs went to public auction in 2020. The other design to this one that went to auction sold for $182,400 and is now the most valuable example ever sold and this poster is now the second-most valuable example of its type - the record price for this design is $274,850 achieved in 2017.

$240,000 | Caille Triplet Musical Upright Slot Machine

Witherells

Auction House: Morphy's
Date Sold: January 16, 2020
Official Auction Page: Morphys

This is an ultra-rare Caille Brothers Triple Centaur musical upright slot machine, built between 1898 and 1905. The slot machine was invented in the 1890s, and represented the first time that a manmade machine could attract pathological addiction in a human being. As the average payout percentage globally of legal slot machines is 90.89% (that is, they keep 9.11% of all money they ingest), they hence take all the money of players who continue to play indefinitely. The average slot player loses $380 every year while the average problem gambler loses $12,000 each year. Somewhere between 1.5% and 5.4% of Americans experience pathological gambling. Today there are believed to be more than a million slot machines in service across the world and many Governments are as addicted to gambling revenues as the problem gamblers in their communities are to gambling. Though only two Caille triple machines are known to still exist, they both went to auction in 2020, with Witherells selling one for $217,800 on January 16, 2020, and Morphys selling the other for $240,000 on October 30, 2020.

$240,000 | Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein Front Endpapers Illustration Original Art

Heritage Auctions

Auction House: Heritage
Date Sold: May 3, 2020
Official Auction Page: Heritage

If you have never seen a copy of Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein, it is one of the most revered publications within the comics industry. It was a labor of love that Wrightson started in 1975, producing illustrations at a steady pace for seven years. Of all of the illustrations created for Wrightson’s Magnum Opus, this is one of the select few that gives a clear portrait of the noble but tortured soul that was known as "the Monster of Frankenstein." This is one of the first images a reader would see when opening the publication, making it an iconic image!

$246,685 | Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light

Forum Auctions

Auction House: Forum Auctions
Date Sold: July 9, 2020
Official Auction Page: Forum Auctions

Newton's work on pure mathematics was virtually hidden from all but his personal correspondents for many decades, and then a great international debate began with both Newton and Willhelm Gottfried Leibniz claiming the prize of having invented calculus. Mathematics is the language of the Gods, the Queen of Sciences, and it was not until we had calculus, which enabled us to explore the science of things that change, that science was able to move forward at the frenetic pace it has since the addendum to Opticks: a treatise of the reflexions, refractions, inflexions and colours of light . This final addition to Opticks, a tract on the quadrature of curves (integration) and another on the classification of the cubic curves, is one of Newton's many attempts to assert his priority over Leibniz. The two "Treatises of the Species and Magnitude of Curvilinear Figures" included at the end of the text of Opticks are Newton's first published mathematical papers. His Cambridge lectures, delivered from about 1673 to 1683, were published in 1707. It would be fair to say that both of these great men came up with calculus independently, as did the Persians five hundred years before them, and the Greeks went very close 2000 years before them too. Our view of scientific history is largely eurocentric and it is very sad that the scientific breakthroughs of the Chinese civilization are so poorly recognized, as we will only fully understand our heritage when it is fully documented.

Copies of this work go to auction most years with most times prices below $50,000. This is only the second copy to have fetched more than $100,000 since the record price in 2015: the other was a First Edition, first issue sold for GBP 81,250 ($108,740) at Christies, London in July, 2018.

This presentation copy of “Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light” by Isaac Newton sold for $246,685 at Forum Auctions on July 9, 2020 and the most valuable copy of this work to sell at auction was also a presentation copy, in that case, to his publisher, friend and Royal Society colleague, astronomer Edmund Halley. That copy sold for $1,330,000 at Sotheby's (New York) in December, 2015.

Copies of this work go to auction most years with most times prices below $50,000. This is only the second copy to have fetched more than $100,000 since the record price in 2015: the other was a First Edition, first issue sold for GBP 81,250 ($108,740) at Christies, London in July, 2018

$250,251 | Light-Up Remote-control R2-S8 Droid from “Star Wars: Solo: a star wars story” (2018)

Price in sale currency: £150,000
Auction House: Propstore
Date Sold: December 2, 2020
Official Auction Page: Propstore

This light-up remote-control R2-S8 droid was used in Ron Howard's Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and was seen in the film displaying a hologram for a pair of Imperial stormtroopers at the Coronet Spaceport on Corellia, just after Han (Alden Ehrenreich) was separated from Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke).

Constructed by Stuart Bone, this droid was originally built for use on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, although its scene was cut from the final film. It has a plywood frame and legs, with a fibreglass dome and a hand-cut aluminium outer skin. Its hand-painted finish is predominantly white, black and red, and the droid is intentionally distressed to look dusty, dirtied and well-used during its life at the spaceport.

$250,251 | Obi-Wan Kenobi's (Ewan McGregor) Hero Lightsaber STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005)

Propstore

Price in sale currency: £150,000
Auction House: Propstore
Date Sold: December 2, 2020
Official Auction Page: Propstore

One of the most valuable Star Wars artefacts to reach auction during 2020 was Obi-Wan Kenobi's (Ewan McGregor) hero lightsaber from George Lucas' Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Obi-Wan carried and used his lightsaber in various scenes throughout the saga, notably during a duel on the fiery planet of Mustafar with his former apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), by then known as Darth Vader.

In the Star Wars canon, Obi-Wan constructed his third and final lightsaber after earning the title of Jedi Master, and continued to use this weapon until he sacrificed himself during his confrontation with Vader aboard the Death Star in A New Hope. The lightsaber's hilt design inspired Obi-Wan's apprentice Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) when he created his second, green-bladed lightsaber, which featured in Return on the Jedi.

The lightsaber is made of a combination of machined aluminium and cast resin detailing, with a metal core running through the body of the weapon. Some parts of the weapon are vacuum-metallised, with sections of the pommel, controls section and blade projection plate displaying a mirror-silver chrome finish.

This hero lightsaber was gifted by the film's producers to celebrated stunt coordinator and sword master Nick Gillard on completion of the prequel trilogy. Gillard was the lead lightsaber fight and stunt coordinator for the Star Wars prequel trilogy films (1999-2005).

$256,000 | Buzz Aldrin’s NASA Apollo 11 Space Flown Control Stick (RC#1)

Julien's

Auction House: Julien's
Date Sold: July 17, 2020
Official Auction Page: Julien's

This control handle was originally located near the right hand of astronaut and lunar module pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin who was positioned in the center couch of the command module. This “joystick” enabled Aldrin to control the roll, pitch, and yaw of Apollo 11.

$268,400 | “Universalior cogniti orbis tabula ex recentibus confecta observationi” (1508) by Johannes Ruysch

Arader Galleries

Auction House: Arader Galleries
Date Sold: October 11, 2020
Official Auction Page: Arader Galleries

This rare copy of “Universalior cogniti orbis tabula ex recentibus confecta observationi” (A Universal Map of the Known World, Constructed by Means of Recent Observations) (1508) by Johannes Ruysch is generally regarded as the first obtainable world map to show a printed depiction of America.

The first world map to show the New World was the 1506 map published by Francesco Rosselli in Florence, while another was included in Martin Waldseemuller's map of the same year. Both of these works are known in a single existing example, meaning that Ruysch's rare map is the earliest cartographic representation of the newly discovered lands that remains available to collectors. Drawn according to Ptolemy's first (coniform, or fan-shaped) projection, Ruysch's map was the first indication of America in any edition of the Geographia, and incorporated geographical discoveries from Portuguese, Spanish and English explorations in America.The nomenclature was particularly influential. South America is named "Mundus Novus" or "New World" from Vespucci's published accounts asserting that this was a "fourth" or "new" corner of the globe, distinct from Europe, Asia and Africa.

Morphy Auctions

Auction House: Morphy
Date Sold: January 17, 2020
Official Auction Page: Morphy

Every military force has its elite warriors. Today, those warriors are known as Special Forces, but 500 years ago, they were Knights - Knights were the dominant force of armies in 1500, when the armour auctioned here was made. Over time, the knights became increasingly supported by archers, pikemen, crossbowmen, and handgunners, but in this period the most lethal soldier was mounted on horse of strength and size, and fully armoured. A suit such as this weighed 40 to 50 pounds and if the provenance of the suit is well documented, it will forever appreciate in value. This armour has Royal DNA, and was last seen at auction at Christie’s in London in July 2002, where it fetched £94,650 ($140,000). Previous sale prices of the suit are also recorded in the provenance, being $475 on 14 October 1943 (Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York) and $66,000 on 23 November 1988 (Christie's East, New York).

$275,000 | “The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles” (1627) by Captain John Smith

Sotheby’s

Auction House: Sotheby’s
Date Sold: January 27, 2020
Official Auction Page: Sotheby’s

Despite a spectacular career as an adventurer, and his role in the establishment of first permanent English settlement in America, Captain John Smith is best known for his relationship with Native American Pocahontas. This First Edition, third issue of The Generall History is regarded as one of the foundation sources for the English settlements in America and Bermuda. It was partly compiled from Smith's four earlier reports on the Virginia and New England colonies, of which all are very rare. The Generall Historie of Virginia contains Smith’s eyewitness account of the founding of Jamestown, his capture and rescue through the intercession of Pocahontas, his observations during his time spent in Virginia (1606-1609), and his explorations of the New England coast (1610-1617).

$287,500 | 1977/1978 Darth Vader Costume from “Star Wars: A New Hope” (1977)

Propstore

Auction House: Propstore
Date Sold: August 27, 2020
Official Auction Page: Propstore

Going by the numbers of eyeballs watching, Darth Vader is the best-known villain in history, courtesy of being the ultimate bad guy in the most-watched sci-fi movie franchise of all-time. Vader’s helmet, mask and entire costume from various Star Wars films have been to auction several times, but in 2019, the Darth Vader costume achieved its first million dollar result ($1.152 million by Profiles in History in September 2019), a new high watermark for any Star Wars costume or movie prop.

Now this isn't a screen-worn Darth Vader costume, but the helmet was created from the same mold as Vader's screen-worn helmet from the original film of the series and has clearly seen a lot of use. The entire costume was created for the promotional circuit that was used for the original Star Wars film, as the original screen-worn costume had been pressed into service in the subsequent promotions and was getting a bit tatty. The costume went past its $250,000 high estimate, which is an extraordinary result considering it is not “screen worn.”

$300,000 | "A Plan of Boston in New England with its Environs" (1777) by Henry Pelham

Christie's

Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: October 16, 2020

Official Auction Page: Christie’s
This map has the full title of A Plan of Boston in New England with its Environs, Including Milton, Dorchester, Roxbury, Brooklin[e], Cambridge, Medford, Charlestown, Parts of Malden, and Chelsea. With the Military Works Constructed in those Places in the Years 1775. And 1776. It was commissioned by British intelligence and was produced in 1777 by Henry Pelham. Pelham is best known for conceiving the Boston Massacre image made popular by Paul Revere’s 1770 engraving but there can be little doubt that Pelham had become a confirmed Loyalist by the time he took up this commission. According to Deák, there are fewer than a dozen recorded impressions of this map: “Topographically accurate and handsomely executed … It is an unusually fine and comprehensive survey and, as such, constitutes an important document of the Revolutionary period.”

$300,000 | The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America

Christie’s

Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: June 18, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

This lot is a first edition of “The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America” (1845) by John James Audubon.

"Viviparous" means birthing young from within the body, so this book is essentially a study of North American mammalian wildlife, and like Audubon's best-known Birds of America, each is superbly illustrated in its natural habitat. Equally as impressive and sweeping as his ornithological work, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America is the result of many years of field research, travel, and seemingly endless study and is the outstanding work on American animals produced in the 19th-century. The entire book has been digitized by the University of Michigan's Special Collections Library and is available in high resolution for free download and use, with attribution.

Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of this great work is that Audubon, after achieving fame and fortune for the best bird book the world had ever seen, set out to do the same for America’s animals, at an age most people would have been retiring.

After an unsuccessful attempt to secure federal funding for his “Great Western Journey,” he determined that the commercial potential of the Quadruped book was worth funding himself: “To render [the Quadrupeds] more complete, I will leave the comforts of my home and beloved family, bound to the Rocky Mountains … I cannot tell how long I may be absent, but look to return loaded up with knowledge, new and abundant specimens on the shot and not from stuffed museums’ moth-eaten remains. I am told that I am too old to undertake such a long and arduous journey, but I reply that having the will, I will no doubt safely bear or even surmount the difficulties” (letter to C. Bonaparte, Feb. 1843, quoted in Rhodes).
Audubon left St. Louis up the Missouri in April of 1843 at the age of 58, traveling over the Rockies to the Great Plains so he could see all the animals first hand and draw them for this book.

Unlike the double-elephant edition of Birds of America, which was printed in London, this book was produced in the United States, becoming the largest and most significant color plate book produced in America in the nineteenth century. It was published in 30 parts, each containing five plates, and priced at $10 each. In total, just over 300 people subscribed to the book. The most expensive copy of John James Audubon's second masterpiece to sell at auction was sold by Guernsey's (New York) in December, 2012, fetching $793,000.
The heart-shaped World Map (1566) by Giovanni Paolio Cimerlinus, is based on a much rarer world map by the French cartographer Oronce Fine, of which just two examples are known. Cimerlinus's world map is drawn on a single cordiform, or heart-shaped projection, allowing the depiction of the world in one hemisphere.

Only two copies of this map have appeared at auction this century: one sold for £145,250 ($229,600) at Sotheby's London in 2011 and another for €236,000 ($298,257) at Christie's Paris in 2006 (a proof before letters). The only other known copies of this map are held in the Harvard Library, the British Library, the Bibliothoque Nationale de France and The John Carter Brown Library.

$312,500 | “Cosmographia universalis ab Orontio olim descripta” (1566) by Giovanni Paolio Cimerlinus

Arader Galleries

Auction House: Arader Galleries
Date Sold: October 10, 2020
Official Auction Page: Arader Galleries

The heart-shaped World Map (1566) by Giovanni Paolio Cimerlinus, is based on a much rarer world map by the French cartographer Oronce Fine, of which just two examples are known. Cimerlinus's world map is drawn on a single cordiform, or heart-shaped projection, allowing the depiction of the world in one hemisphere.

John Rennie Short description: The stunning world map by Giovanni Paolo Cimerlino (1534/35-1609 after) is a cordiform, from the Latin cordatus, meaning heart. After the publication of Ptolemy's Geography in 1475 mapmakers experimented with all manner of map projections. In just the period from 1480 to 1560, the orthographic azimuthal, oval and globular projections of the world were employed to depict the world. Other world map projections included the trapezoidal, azimuthal equidistant, azimuthal orthographic cordiform, pseudo-cordiform and double cordiform. It was a time of rich experimentation as if mapmakers were trying to see what worked, what looked better and after 1492, what could accommodate all the new discoveries. Cordiform maps were part of this experimentation. From 1511 to 1566 over 18 cordiform maps were produced by the leading mapmakers including Peter Apian, Oronce Fine, Mercator and Ortelius.

Only two copies of this map have appeared at auction this century: one sold for £145,250 ($229,600) at Sotheby's London in 2011 and another for €236,000 ($298,257) at Christie's Paris in 2006 (a proof before letters). The only other known copies of this map are held in the Harvard Library, the British Library, the Bibliothoque Nationale de France and The John Carter Brown Library.

$325,000 | "Astronomicum Caesareum" by Petrus Apianus

Heritage Auctions

Auction House: Heritage
Date Sold: October 16, 2020
Official Auction Page: Heritage

One of the rarest, most ingenious and most beautiful scientific books of all-time. This book is not only rare, but is one of the few copies still in existence that is textually complete. Books have a high mortality rate when they were printed nearly 500 years ago, and less than 10 percent of the approximately 135 extant copies contain all of the originally printed text leaves.
A mathematician, astronomer and scientist, Apianus was also a master printer and scientific instrument maker, and it was these two latter interests which saw him become famous for the complex paper calculators (known as “volvelles”) that he included within his books.

This book contains many such volvelles, each designed as an analog scientific computer with which to complement, demonstrate and illustrate this elaborate treatise on Ptolemaic astronomy.

Apianus was seemingly a master craftsman at anything he turned his hand to, and he used his deep mathematical prowess to conceive and manufacture scientific instruments in brass in his workshop in the German university town of Ingolstadt – he had been called to the university there in 1527, and it was there that he began a small print shop.

Once he had a printing press, it wasn’t long before the innovative young humanist began manufacturing instruments from paper.

Using the printing press to create rotating volvelles enabled him to make analog calculators and computers of incredible complexity, and the imagination he showed in conceiving such paper machines and then creating the mathematical framework for their manufacture is truly breathtaking and represents a milestone in human achievement.

It isn’t known when Apianus began creating his volvelles, or when he created some of his most complex paper inventions (one had 19 rotating leaves) but this particular book contained 35 such instruments that calculated dates, the positions of constellations etc. No known copy contains all of the calculators as the book evolved over the nine years it took to produce and many of the calculators were so useful that they were removed from the books they originally resided within to make them more accessible. It took Apianus more than a month to produce some of the plates for his paper computers.

The magnitude of Apianus’ conceptual leap over the gestation period for this tome (1532 to 1540) is arguably of similar cerebral achievement to Charles Babbage and his Difference Engine of 1821 and Analytical Engine of 1834. Babbage was more than a century ahead of his time, but Apianus was 80 years prior to John Napier’s invention of the logarithm, 90 years prior to the slide rule, 150 years prior to calculus, 200 years prior to the sextant and three centuries prior to Babbage. The inventiveness of Apianus was truly prodigious.

By “manufacturing” paper computers, Apianus significantly reduced their cost, enabling analog calculators to be produced in this book that would never have been viable to manufacture in brass – one example is a single purpose volvelle that uses the time of birth of a child and the phase of the moon at that time to calculate the time of conception of the child.

Many of the volvelles in the book are designed to calculate astronomical and chronological phenomena but most of them are designed for astrological calculations so that people could for horoscopes. Two of the volvelles in the book are designed specifically for such calculations for the dedicatee of the book, the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, (hence the name, “the emperor’s astronomy”) and the Emperor’s brother.

Astrology like alchemy, was a pseudo science commonly practiced by the greatest minds of the time, and many of the greatest scientists in history explored areas of science that have subsequently been proven to be nonsense.

Hence this book, which represents Apianus’ Magnum Opus and was created offers a spellbinding beauty once referred to as “the most spectacular contribution of the book-maker's art to sixteenth-century science.”

This book describes five comets – among them one we would come to call Halley’s comet. Apian observed that a comet's tail always points away from the sun, a discovery for which he is credited. As the University of St. Andrews in Scotland notes on its website, “Astronomicum Caesareum delighted Charles V who, on the strength of the work, appointed Apian court mathematician and he knighted Apian and his three brothers.”

Though the book does not contain all of its original volvelles, it is nonetheless regarded as one of the more complete existing copies and previous near complete copies have fetched spectacular prices.

In period, famous astronomer Tycho Brahe recorded that he had purchased a copy of Astronomicum Caesareum for twenty florins, roughly equivalent to US$3,000 today.
In 1985, a copy of this book became one of the most valuable scientific manuscripts ever sold at auction when it fetched US$80,000.

The record price for Astronomicum Caesareum was achieved by Koller auctions in Zurich, Switzerland on 20 September, 2014 when a copy sold for CHF 660 000 (US$701,613). A first edition copy of Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica sold for CHF 408 000, (US$433,750) on the same day.

Another copy of Astronomicum Caesareum went to auction at Sotheby’s London on 14 November 2017 with an estimate of £500,000 to £700,000 ($660,000 to $920,000) but failed to make reserve.

This copy is one of the very few known copies in private hands. Most of the 135 known copies are in libraries, museums and universities.

The Astronomicum Caesareum has traditionally been found in the collections of counts and countesses, the elite and affluent, where they have remained for centuries. Copies this good, in the original bindings, appear for sale but once every decade or so.

$336,000 | King Kong (RKO, 1933) (41" X 80.5") Movie Poster

Heritage Auctions

Auction House: Heritage
Date Sold: November 22, 2020
Official Auction Page: Heritage

This King Kong (1933) Three Sheet Style B Movie Poster measures 41" X 80.5”. It sold for $336,000 at Heritage Auctions on November 22, 2020, becoming one of ten most valuable movie posters in history. Remarkably, there are now two identical copies of this poster in the top ten, with another selling for $388,375 at Heritage Auctions in 2012.

$360,000 | Nintendo Play Station Super NES CD-ROM Prototype, made by Sony and Nintendo c. 1992

Heritage Auctions

Auction House: Heritage
Date Sold: March 8, 2020
Official Auction Page: Heritage

This is the only remaining Play Station prototype, developed by Nintendo and Sony during the 1990s.

Collectors cast 57 bids in an effort to own the prototype, which is believed to be the only surviving example of 200 pre-production consoles that spawned from a once promising partnership between Sony and Nintendo. Also known as the Super NES CD-ROM System, the prototype has a slot for Super Famicom and Super Nintendo games as well as a disc drive to play a proprietary CD-ROM “Super Disc” based format.

At one time, this reportedly single-surviving unit was owned by Olaf Olaffson, the founder, first president, and chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc., and eventually found its way into the hands of a private owner by pure chance.

“Reportedly, the other 199 prototypes were destroyed when the partnership between Nintendo and Sony was officially severed, and, though it isn’t certain, it is entirely possible this unit narrowly missed that fate,” said Valarie McLeckie, Consignment Director, Video Games, at Heritage Auctions. “While there are vast differences between this 1990-1992 prototype and the PlayStation console that was eventually released to consumers by Sony in 1994, it is technically the earliest existing prototype for Sony’s first home console video game console and an invaluable piece of video game history.”

$360,000 | Superman #1 (DC, 1939) CGC VG/FN 5.0

Heritage Auctions

Auction House: Heritage
Date Sold: March 8, 2020
Official Auction Page: Heritage

The most expensive Superman comic is Superman’s first appearance in Action Comics #1 (1938) with a CGC 9.0 copy of having sold for $3.2 million and numerous other copies having fetched more than $1 million. The next most valuable Superman comic is Superman #1, the first stand-alone comic for the scifi superhero which launched in 1939. The size of the comic collector marketplace is gargantuan. The most valuable copy of Superman #1 to sell in 2020 fetched $360,000 but copies also sold for $348,000 (CGC VG+ 4.5) and $288,000 (CGC VG- 3.5), and the record stands at $507,500 for a CGC 5.5 copy, set at Comiclink in 2017.

$368,167 | "Civitates Orbis Terrarum" (1612-18) by Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg

Christie’s

Price in sale currency: £275,000
Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: December 9, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

The work of Abraham Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is considered to be the first true atlas, in that it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved, rather than a collection of maps from various sources. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum contained 53 bundled maps of other map makers, all attributed, but all maps were redrawn to the same style and standardised to the same size, then arranged in order by continent, region and state. This was hence the first time that the entirety of Western European knowledge of the world was brought together in one book. Logically, this made it a “killer app” of the time, and subsequent to being first published on May 20, 1570, three Latin editions, one Dutch, one French and one German edition were published before the end of 1572 – given that translation, typesetting and printing were not digital in 1570, one can only guess at the difficulty of accomplishing this 450 years ago. 25 editions of this book were published before Ortelius' death in 1598.

This lot is interesting in that while it is the most expensive copy of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum to sell in 2020, it was by no means the only copy, and copies also changed hands at il Ponte for €16,000 ($17,755 – for a 1584 edition), €68,750 at Ketterer Kunst ($80,437 – for a Latin mixed edition covering from 1^st to 8th edition) and $173,240 at Arader Galleries (1584 edition). A copy also sold for GBP 62,500 at Christie’s in 2019, with another fetching $218,750 at Arader Galleries in New York in January 2019, and becoming one of the most valuable books listed in our 2019 auction year coverage. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum almost always seems to manage a spot in our overview of each year, with an incomplete set selling for $365,000 at Christies in April 2016 and becoming one of the most valuable books listed in our 2016 auction year coverage, and for another sold for $253,217 (£193,750) at Sothebys in 2017 to become one of the most valuable scientific documents sold in 2017.

There’s a full copy available for free to be read on the internet

$370,000 | Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 Control Stick

Julien’s Auctions

Auction House: Julien's
Date Sold: July 17, 2020
Official Auction Page: Julien's

This is the original rotational attitude control stick (for adjusting the spacecraft’s attitude using roll, pitch, and yaw ) from the 1969 Apollo 11 command module Columbia (CSM-107) and positioned under the right hand of mission commander Neil Armstrong.

$370,000 | The spacesuit and helmet of Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) from "2001: A Space Odyssey"

Julien’s Auctions

Auction House: Julien's
Date Sold: July 17, 2020
Official Auction Page: Julien's

The value of movie memorabilia is invariably linked to the importance of the film it comes from, with key props from the greatest films of all time always bringing auction prices commensurate with their time in the spotlight.

Hence the space suit used in the Stanley Kubrick masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey (MGM, 1968) was always going to be one of the most important technology auctions of the year. Central to the movie is this suit, which is comprised of various parts of different suits used throughout the movie. Some helmets were reused and repainted throughout the production and this helmet has four layers of paint – one or more layers of white, then green, then yellow, and then white, its present color. This indicates that it was used in different scenes by multiple actors and hence used by more than one character.

The near complete costume has a silver body suit, blue back pack and white helmet, but the helmet appears to have been used as a lunar type (white), then as two Discovery type helmets (green and yellow). Most notably, the base green layer of paint seen in chips, cracks, and green overspray throughout the helmet surface suggests that it may have been the helmet worn by Keir Dullea, who portrayed Dr. Dave Bowman, the lead astronaut on the film’s Discovery mission to Jupiter.

The helmet is believed to have been used in the sequence in which Bowman reenters the antechamber of the Discovery surrounded by banks of circuit breakers leading to the "brain room" and logic center to “kill” HAL in one of the most famous science fiction scenes of all time.

This is the helmet Bowman was wearing as Hal spoke the words, “Stop Dave. Stop Dave. I am afraid. I am afraid Dave." Keir Dullea’s Dr. Dave Bowman is the only character to wear a green helmet in the film, and the green helmet is only worn in that sequence. A yellow suit and matching helmet was worn by Gary Lockwood as Dr. Frank Poole as he is left floating into space. Full story

$375,000 | “Il Disegno Delta Terza parte dell'Asia” (1559 - 61) by Giacomo Gastaldi

Arader Galleries

Auction House: Arader Galleries
Date Sold: December 6, 2020
Official Auction Page: Arader Galleries

Giacomo Gastaldi's Il Disegno Delta Terza parte dell'Asia (The Design of The Third Part of Asia) is a four-sheet wall map of Southeast Asia, China and India. It began with the publication of a section in 1559, with a section added in 1561, and another two sections in 1565, in order to show Indonesia and islands as far south as Java Minor.

$375,000 | “Carte générale du territoire d'Orléans comprenant aussi la Floride Occidentale et une portion du territoire du Mississipi” (1806) by Barthélémy Lafon

Arader Galleries

Auction House: Arader Galleries
Date Sold: December 6, 2020
Official Auction Page: Arader Galleries

Barthélémy Lafon's map ranks as the earliest comprehensive survey of Louisiana and its adjacent regions and is one of the most important maps of the Gulf Coast, Texas, and Louisianna to come on the market in 50 years.$522,750 | Pierre-Joseph Redoute Watercolors for “Les Liliacees”.

$375,000 | Redoute Watercolors for "Les Liliacees"

Arader Galleries

Auction House: Arader Galleries
Date Sold: October 10, 2020
Official Auction Page: Arader Galleries

Pierre-Joseph Redoute (1759 – 1840) was an artist so talented that he has been called "the Raphael of flowers" and has been called the greatest botanical illustrator of all time.. Redoute had as pupils or patrons five queens and empresses of France, from Marie-Antoinette to Empress Josephine and her successor, Marie-Louise. Despite many changes of regime in a turbulent epoch, he worked without interruption, a testament to his greatness as an artist. Les Liliacees, Redoute’s largest and most ambitious work, is generally considered to be the artist’s masterpiece.

Les Liliacees is not just a work of exquisite beauty, but one of immense size. It contains 486 scientifically accurate plates of flowers grown in the gardens of the Empress's residences of Malmaison, St. Cloud, and the palace of Versailles. The entire master work comprises 16 volumes, weighs 320 pounds, and just 18 copies were published. In 1985, Sotheby's sold Empress Josephine's personal copy of Les Liliacées for $5,500,000 to a syndicate headed by Graham Arader.

In 2020 a number of the original watercolors used in the preparation of Les Liliacees went to auction at Arader Galleries, with the top sellers being the watercolor for plate 456: Bromella ananas (Cultivated Pineapple) and the watercolor for plate 444: Musa paradisiaca (Banana) that both sold for $522,750 (including buyers premium).

$388,256 | “Speculum nauticum super navigatione maris” (1586) by Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer

Ketterer Kunst

Price in sale currency:€325,000
Auction House: Ketterer Kunst
Date Sold: November 30, 2020
Official Auction Page: Ketterer Kunst

This copy of Speculum nauticum super navigatione maris is a first latin edition of the earliest printed maritime atlas, following its first appearance in Dutch in 1584-85. It was the first of its kind in the history of nautical cartography, and created such demand for Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer's charts that it was translated into this Latin edition and English, German and French editions soon followed. The excellence of this atlas was such that all other published charts of the coasts of Europe were based on it for at least a century, and all such later collections of sea charts were called after the author “wagheners” or “waggoners” or (in French) “chartiers”.

$422,410 | A Large Iridescent Ammonite

Christie’s

Price in sale currency: £325,000
Auction House: Christie’s
Date Sold: October 28, 2020
Official Auction Page: Christie’s

Fossilised ammonoids are fetching ever increasing amounts at auction, with some of the highest prices ever paid occurring in 2020 for iridescent ammonites, the highest being this specimen selling for $422,410 and another fetching £150,000 ($194,959) at Christies on October 28, 2020.