Among the many record-setting results achieved by Heritage Auctions in 2023, none looms larger than the one set by the auction house itself. Last year, Heritage reached $1.76 billion in total sales, the highest ever for the 47-year-old company following record-setting years in 2021 and 2022. Heritage experienced a 21-percent growth over 2022. Heritage also set auction records spanning many of its categories, from U.S. coins to comic art, Batman to Mickey Mantle, the founding of the United States to the end of the Death Star. Numerous 2023 auctions brimmed with headline-grabbers, including Archie and Edith Bunkers landmark living room and the Boston bar where everybody knows your name. To all of that,cheers! The past year has yet again proven the enduring enthusiasm of collectors and the ever-expanding universe of fascinating objects that fire the passion of our collector-clients, said CEO and co-founder Steve Ivy. We are so grateful to those who became part of the Heritage family in 2023 and look forward to a 2024 full of amazing discoveries, thrilling auctions and the passionate pursuit of amazing objects. Heritages 2023 was led by U.S. and World & Ancient Coins, which surpassed a combined $368.6 million in sales. Private sales increased significantly over 2022, thanks to high gold prices and a strong coin market. Collectors also seized upon some legendary offerings, among themthe 1870-S $3 gold coin from the historic Harry W. Bass Jr. Core Collection that sold for a record $5.52 millionto begin 2023. Four months later,one of just two known proofs of an 1829 Capped Head Left Half Eagle, also from the Bass Collection, realized a record-setting $2.88 million. The Bass Collection proved especially notable. Offered in four installments, with the final auction last August, this assemblage realized $83.66 million, with all proceeds benefitting dozens of Dallas-based nonprofits supported by the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation. Heritage is proud to be associated with this storied collection and the impact its sale will have on its hometown for years to come. The Comics and Comic Art category also recorded numerous records during 2023, capped by a Frank Frazetta work that toppled another Frank Frazetta original work. In June,his 1976 painting Dark Kingdomsold for $6 million to set a new high watermark for original comic book or fantasy art, a record held since 2019 by Frazettas 1969 painting Egyptian Queen, which sold at Heritage for $5.4 million. The auction house set numerous records for original art during the year, ranging from Calvin & Hobbesto Iron Man. And 84 years to the day since it first hit newsstands, Detective ComicsNo. 27, the comic book that introduced Batman, realizeda record-tying $1.74 million. The Sports category recorded another championship season in 2023, led by the man holding the record for the worlds most valuable sports collectible, Mickey Mantle. One year after Heritage sold a Mint+ 9.5 1952 Topps Mantle for $12.6 million,Heritage sold a Mint 9 example for $4.5 million, the second most a sports card sold for at auction in 2023 and the fifth-highest price ever paid at auction for a sports card. In that same August auction, Mantles New York Yankees home jersey worn throughout the 1958 season sold for $4.68 million to become, by far, the most valuable Mantle jersey ever sold at auction. He wasnt the lone sports legend to see a new record set for the jersey off his back. In November,Kareem Abdul-Jabbars road Milwaukee Bucks jersey worn during his first two historic seasons in the NBA realized $675,000to become the worlds most valuable piece of Abdul-Jabbar memorabilia ever sold at auction. It was a star-studded 2023 at Heritage, as evidenced by the Entertainment categorys record-smashing $39 million year that includedJames Comisars collection of more than 1,000 props, costumes and sets from historic, influential and popular TV showsandmore than 550 iconic sci-fi models, props, costumes and art. The most valuable screen-used Star Warsprop ever sold at auction wasa screen-matched X-wing starfighter that led the Rebel Alliances assault on the Death Star in 1977s Star Wars, which sold for $3.135 million. During that same event,one of the few surviving Imperial Stormtrooper costumes from George Lucas first space opera realized $645,000. The bar from Cheers, one of the centerpieces from Comisars collection, realized $675,000 after an exhilarating and protracted bidding war. Comisars magnificent costume collection also includedAdam Wests Batman and Burt Wards Robin crime-fighting ensembles from the 1960s TV series, which found a new Batcave to call home when the Dynamic Duo realized $615,000.Johnny Carsons final Tonight Showset sold for $275,000, whileArchie and Edith Bunkers chairs made for and used during the ninth season of Norman Lears All in the Familyand all ofArchie Bunkers Placefound a new home for $250,000. M*A*S*Hstar Alan Alda came to Heritage in 2023 to find a new home forthe combat boots and dog tags he wore as Benjamin Franklin Hawkeye Pierce during all 251 episodes of the landmark TV series. They realized $125,000, with all proceeds from the sale benefitting the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University. Heritage has long prided itself as the leading illustration and American Art auction house. In 2023, Heritage was again thrilled to set several records in the category, including ones for Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, George Tooker and Arthur Wesley Dow, among many others. In October, Andy Warhols 1985 screenprint Applefrom his body of work titled Ads, this one re-imaging an iconic ad for the then-young company Macintosh, sold for $250,000. And Harings Pop Shop II(1988) and Pop Shop IV (1989), each consisting of four screenprints on wove paper, realized, respectively, $112,500 and $106,250. Together, too, they made history, in that same auction, Andy Mouse, a set of four screenprints starring a cheeky cartoon hybrid of Warhol and Mickey Mouse, delivered Harings vision of Warhols ascendance to legend status and realized $945,000. Since its founding in 1976, Heritage has become known as the premier destination for history and a place where history is made. That was never more evident than in July, when, 247 years after its creation, almost to the day, the first broadside edition of the Declaration of Independence printed in Massachusetts sold for $2,895,000. At years end,a signed Abraham Lincoln carte-de-visite realized $181,250 to set an auction recordfor an autographed portrait of the president. Closer to home,Charles William Pressler and A.B. Langermanns 1879Map of the State of Texas, which is among the most significant maps of Texas ever printed and one of the rarest, sold in December for $705,000. That is the highest amount a Texas map has ever realized at auction. As they say in Texas, you cant beat that with a stick.