Week ending Jan.23, 2026 auctions RBH                                             1/26/26

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THE WEEK THAT WAS AT THE AUCTIONS ending Jan. 23, 2026

By Hammer Price

Free Link  https://www.rarebookhub.com/auction_updates/1054

(Note to reader: The summary link above is FREE, the additional links below will function only for RBH subscribers. A reminder to subscribers: LOG IN to your account to use links. Results priced in $ £ €)

For the week ended Jan. 23, 2026 there were 57 auctions archived to Rare Book Hub’s database. 

Turnover was $12,728,354 of which more than $9 million came from the Heritage US currency signature auction on Jan. 16.For the week the average lot brought $1,371. There were 12,054 lots offered; of these 9,279 found new homes. This week 76.98% of all lots offered were sold.

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Heritage dominated the RBH top 25, taking every single spot; and it did well with a variety of other auctions too, including sports and other trading cards, comics, paper money and other currency items, animation and pulps. Virtually all the Heritage Auctions saw substantial sell through rates.

Heritage Auctions. FUN U.S. Currency Signature Auction on January 16th: $9,120,801

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

1. The top selling item for the week ending Jan. 23 was at Heritage on Jan 16. It was a 1934 Federal Reserve Note with $10,000 face value. It sold for $317,200.

Heritage Auctions Fr. 2231-A $10,000 1934 Federal Reserve Note. PMG Choice Uncirculated 63. on January 16th Actual price: USD $317,200.

Fr. 2231-A $10,000 1934 Federal Reserve Note. PMG Choice Uncirculated 63. Shrouded from the view of the numismatic community for many decades, this  $10,000 Boston FRN presents itself as a new addition to the Track & Price Census. T&P placed the number of currently known surviving representatives for Fr. 2231-A at just 17 examples prior to now, and this treasure brings the total up to 18.

https://www.rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9457899?key=3514a4492050a99dedc331a0ad59d395007e6350

2. Claude Monet 1920 signed letter on Giverny letterhead sold for €33,800 ($39,659) at International Autograph Auctions Europe SL (Spain)  Jan 21- Jan 22.

Artist Claude Monet (1840-1926) politely refuses a visitor while working on his monumental Water Lilies paintings as ' The slightest disturbance is always detrimental to my work '

French Impressionist painter. A.L.S., Claude Monet, two pages (written to the first and third sides of the bifolium), 8vo, Giverny par Vernon, Eure, 16th August 1920, to a Doctor, in French. Monet writes in bold pencil and states, in full, 'Vous m'en voyez désolé mais je suis en ce moment en plein travail et ne reçois personne, le moindre dérangement est toujours funeste à mon travail. Vous voudrez m'excuser auprès de votre ami. Avec tous mes regrets, recevez l'expression de mes sentiments distingués' 

(Translation: 'I am very sorry, but I am currently hard at work and cannot receive visitors. The slightest disturbance is always detrimental to my work. Please convey my apologies to your friend. With my deepest regrets, I remain sincerely yours'). 

The work from which Monet did not want to be distracted in the summer of 1920 was his Grand Decorations, the monumental paintings of Water Lilies…. the paintings which would be donated to the Musee de l'Orangerie in 1922. Lot 619

https://www.rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9484007?key=b2a90ec2aceac6e4724ae983c21eeb1129357c69

3. L. Frank Baum’s The Army  Alphabet and the Navy Alphabet (1900) sold at Pacific Book Auction on Jan. 22 for $28,125. High presale estimate was $1,500

L. Frank Baum (of Oz fame) wrote the verses for The Army and the Navy Alphabet, 1900, George Hill, Chicago. Jacket worn and chipped, with tape repairs; varying wear and staining to boards; hinges cracked, pages slightly toned, occasional marginal smudges; good. 

These were illustrated by Harry Kennedy to teach the alphabet, with each letter representing a military or naval term.

https://www.rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9467303?key=aae7139e35f22744f68bd1debffd8b609a45995c

4. 1908 ES Curtis 12 large framed photogravures sold for $11,970 at Doyles on Jan. 21 in the Jane Hitchcock Collection sale (Lot 41).

CURTIS, EDWARD SHERIFF

Group of twelve large-format photogravures extracted from the portfolio volumes of The North American Indian. Cambridge: University Press of Cambridge, Mass., and Plimpton Press, Norwood, Mass, 1908. Some minor paper toning, generally in excellent condition. Framed. Most with The Old Print Shop labels on verso. Images from Portfolio III (1908) of The North American Indian, including plate 76 The Medicine-Man; plate 79 Sioux Chiefs; plate 80 An Oasis in the Badlands; plate 87 High Hawk; plate 90 Hu Kalowa Pi Ceremony; plate 91; Prayer to the Mystery; plate 100 A Heavy Load - Sioux; plate 101 Black Eagle - Assiniboin; plate 107 An Assiniboin Camp; plate 109 Invocation---Sioux; plate 110 The Mountain-Sheep Hunter---Sioux; plate 119 In the Badlands. A portion of the frame has been cropped out of the photo.

https://www.rarebookhub.com/auction_lot_books/9484268?key=d660dda1150dcd631512122fe1a95eb37e414003