Art & Architecture Collection > AUCTION SALES INDEXES: Books, CD-ROM's and On-Line Services

3. Retrospective Auction Sales Indexes

AMERICAN ART AUCTION CATALOGUES 1785 - 1942, A UNION LIST by Harold Lancour

[*R-ART]
Auction Houses: American
Dates Covered: 1785 to 1942.

Notes: Compiled from holdings of auction catalogs of NYPL, Library of Congress, the American Antiquarian Society, Frick Art Reference Library and others. List of over 7,000 catalogues owned by 21 libraries. Listing is strictly chronological. Includes an index to more than 60,000 owners names.

ANNUAIRE INTERNATIONAL DES VENTES by Enrique Mayer

[MAZ]
Auction Houses: International
Dates Covered: 1963-1966

Contents:

• Prints
• Drawings
• Watercolors
• Gouaches
• Pastels
• Paintings
• Sculpture

Scope: All periods
Notes: In French [Continued in English as International Auction Records]

ART PRICE ANNUAL

[MAZ]
Auction Houses: International
Dates Covered: 1952/53 - to 1977/78 (Annual).
Continued by Kunstpreis Jahrbuch.

Contents:

• Paintings
• Drawings
• Miniatures
• Icons
• Sculpture
• Prints
• Photographs
• Furniture
• Iluminated manuscripts
• Decorative arts

Scope: Excellent for coverage of decorative and applied arts. Some items accompanied by black and white reproductions. Includes many German auction houses.

ART PRICES CURRENT

[MAZ]
Auction Houses: Principal London, Continental & American auction houses.
Dates Covered: 1907-1916. New series begins 1921-1973. (Annual)

Contents:

• Paintings
• Drawings
• Engravings
• Miniatures

Scope: All periods
Notes: Originally limited to sales conducted by Christie, Manson & Woods, London. New series (1921-1973) increased coverage to include representative prices from sales of Wilkinson & Hodge and Puttic & Simpson. Over the years other houses, primarily London and Scottish were included. Then expanded to include "principal London, Continental and American auction rooms". There is an index to artists and engravers names.

ART SALES: From Early in the Eighteenth Century To Early in the Twentieth Century (Mostly Old Master & Early English Pictures) by Algernon Graves

[MAZ]
Auction Houses: English Auction Houses
Dates Covered: Early 18th Century to Early Twentieth Century

Contents:

• Paintings

Scope: Mostly Old Master and Early English Pictures
Notes: In three volumes. Arranged alphabetically by artist then chronologically. All Turner paintings have been omitted.

ARTRONIX INDEX: Photographs at Auction 1951-1984, Edited by Bhupendra Karia

[MFW 87-1702]
Auction Houses: International
Dates Covered: 1951-1984

Contents:

• Photographs
• Albums
• Books
• Portfolios
• Photogravures
• Daguerreotypes

Notes: Covers 264 photography auctions. Majority of sales from 1971 when Parke-Bernet began regular photography sales.

REPERTOIRE DES CATALOGUES DE VENT by Frits Lugt

[MAZ+]
Auction Houses: International
Dates Covered: 1600 -1925

Contents:

• Paintings
• Medallions
• Cameos
• Drawings
• Tapestries
• Glass
• Intaglios
• Antiquities
• Ceramics
• Arms
• Miniatures
• Prints
• Objets d'art
• Bronzes
• Sculpture
• Furniture
• Autographs

Scope: All periods
Notes: In French. Each entry includes date, location of sale, name of collector, artist, merchant or proprietor, contents, auctioneers, libraries in which catalogue may be found. Work divided into four volumes: 1st volume covers 1600-1825, second volume covers 1826-1860, third volume covers 1861-1900, fourth covers 1901-1925.

ART SALES CATALOGUES 1600-1825 ON MICROFICHE

(Not at NYPL)
Auction Houses: International
Coverage: 1600 - 1825
Notes: This microfiche set reproduces all the text of the 11,065 sale catalogues presented in the first volume of Lugt (see above). Available at the Frick Collection.

SCIPIO (Sales Catalogs Index Project Input Online)

[MAZ 88-2402]
Dates Covered: 1981 to 1985

Contents:

• Paintings
• Prints
• Sculpture
• Ceramics
• Decorative Arts
• Furniture
• Drawings
• Jewelry
• Instruments
• Photographs
• Silver
• Watercolors
• Rugs
• Arms & Armour

Notes: The two volumes correspond to the Online Database. Contains holdings of auction catalogs at: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Cleveland Museum of Art, and supplemented by Library of the Getty Center and the National Gallery of Art Library. Divided into two sections: main index which runs chronologically, and the subject index which is divided into 41 categories listed in preface. This is a comprehensive listing of sales. It does not index individual objects.

 

Written by Lee Robinson, with markup assistance from Caroline Gifford
June, 1996