A Recap Of Heritage Auctions $1.45 Billion Year
Auction House Sets Dozens Of Records And Redefines Markets In 2022
January 20, 2023
By every estimation, 2022 was a home run for Heritage Auctions. The auction house recorded more than $1.45 billion in sales in 2022, a record high for the 46-year-old Dallas-based company following 2021s also landmark results. It also set dozens of significant auction records spanning most of its categories, including one for the worlds most valuable sports collectible when a 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card sold last summer for $12.6 million. That $1.45 billion does not include the $103.5 million realized for Russian newspaper editor Dmitry Muratovs Nobel Peace Prize medal, which he sold through Heritage on June 21. Heritage waived its commission, and every cent raised was immediately paid to UNICEFs humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine. This has been a historic, headline-making year for Heritage, and I could not be more thankful for our ever-growing, increasingly younger base of client-collectors nor prouder of our thoughtful, diligent team of specialists, says CEO and co-founder Steve Ivy. Were certainly delighted every time we set a record or exceed consignors expectations, and it remains a thrill to connect collectors with their passions, but this year we were also able to give back in ways once unimaginable. Heritage remains the worlds leading coin and currency auction house, but our expeditious evolution into the worlds leading collectibles auctioneer is something we do not take for granted. That total consists of approximately $1.07 billion in auction sales, with the rest constituting private sales brokered by Heritage. A few of the auction records set in 2022 spanned all of the auction houses more than 40 categories. That includes U.S. coins, which realized more than $310 million in total auction sales, a 21 percent increase over 2021s record-setting figures. The comics and comic art category ended the year with more than $195 million in total sales, exceeding 2021s results by 7 percent. The year got off to a web-swinging start with Januarys $3.36 million sale of Page 25 from 1984s Secret Wars No. 8. That work, which tells the origin story of Spider-Mans black costume, remains the worlds most valuable page of original comic book artwork. In November, a hand-colored Calvin and Hobbes Sunday strip from May 24, 1987, sold for $480,000 to set a new auction record for Bill Watterson and his beloved creations. That price also tied the record for the most valuable original newspaper strip ever sold at auction. Aprils comics and comic art signature realized a staggering $27,674,844, making it, by far, the most successful comics auction ever held. The sports category continued to wow in 2022, realizing more than $157 million in total sales. In February, the jersey worn by Mickey Mantle when he played his final game as a New York Yankee sold for $2,190,000, the highest price ever paid at auction for a Mantle jersey. In that same auction, one of seven known ticket stubs from Jackie Robinsons big-league debut in the spring of 1947 sold for $480,000 to become the most expensive sporting-event ticket ever sold at auction. In July, Indianapolis Colts owner and philanthropist Jim Irsay paid $6.18 million for Muhammad Alis World Boxing Council heavyweight championship belt, which Ali earned in his victory over George Foreman in 1974s legendary Rumble in the Jungle. Then came Augusts headline-seizing sale of the Mickey Mantle card that redefined the hobby and industry. The 1952 Topps Mantle, graded a Mint+ 9.5 by Sportscard Guaranty Corporation, sold for a record-shattering $12.6 million, which remains the highest price ever realized at auction for any sports collectible. That wasnt the lone headline from that event, during which Babe Ruths game-used and signed bat dating from 1918 to 1922 sold for $1.68 million to become the most valuable game-used bat ever sold at auction. The historical category saw remarkable growth in 2022, with total sales realizing more than $36.3 million, a 124-percent jump from 2021s $16.2 million. This year, Heritage introduced its Historical Platinum events, thoughtfully curated auctions spanning centuries of human achievement. In May, a rocking chair commissioned by President John F. Kennedy sold for $591,000. The most recent Platinum Auction, held at the beginning of December, saw the only known photograph of Marilyn Monroe inscribed to Joe DiMaggio sell for $300,000 to set a new auction record for a signed Monroe photograph. Jewelry shone particularly brightly at Heritage in 2022 as the category saw a 22-percent increase in total sales, from $21.6 million to more than $26.38 million. In September, a .21-carat fancy orangy red diamond shattered estimates when it sold for $1,755,000, nearly 12 times its pre-auction estimate, to become the highest price ever paid for an item of jewelry at Heritage Auctions. Timepieces, too, saw an uptick in sales in 2022, from $4.58 million to $6.19 million. Client-collectors also bought more luxury accessories in 2022 than ever, as the category realized $5,831,928 in total sales. The entertainment and music category likewise saw an uptick in sales in 2022, jumping 10 percent from $19.877 million to $21.787 million. Twice this year, Heritage set new records for concert posters, first in April, when a poster from the Beatles 1966 Shea Stadium concert realized $275,000, then again in November, when the rarest-known Buddy Holly poster, from The Day the Music Died, realized $447,000. In 2022, Heritage introduced a new category, VHS and home entertainment, which kicked off with a bang in June, when actor Tom Wilsons shrink-wrapped copy of his original Back to the Future VHS tape sold for $75,000 to become, at the time, the most worlds valuable sealed and graded videotape. Heritage has long prided itself in being the leading illustration and American art auctioneer. In 2022, the auction house was thrilled to set several records in the category, including ones for author-illustrator Maurice Sendak and artist Shepard Fairey. On May 11, Sendaks Let the Wild Rumpus Start! (Happy Birthday Wild Things!), painted in 1988 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Where the Wild Things Are, set an auction record for the artist when it sold for $212,500. Eight days later, one of the three Shepard Fairey HOPE collages made for Barack Obamas 2008 presidential campaign sold for a record-setting $735,000. The art world was shaken and stirred in October when one of the most famous images of James Bond became among the most valuable; Robert McGinnis original painting for the 1965 Thunderball poster sold for $275,000. In November, Mark Rothko saw an auction record for an early figurative work from a seminal series, $1.45 million for A Last Supper. In that same auction, artist and illustrator of the social realism school Stevan Dohanos saw an auction record for 1944s Penny Candy, a Saturday Evening Post cover, at $375,000. For more information, visit www.HA.com.
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