THE CORNELIS J. HAUCK COLLECTION TOTALS $12,401,780 AT CHRISTIE’S Christie’s New York sold the extraordinary single-owner collection brought together by Cornelius J. Hauck, which featured over 700 lots.
News-Antique.com - Nov 30,-0001 - New York – On June 27 and 28, Christie’s New York sold the extraordinary single-owner collection brought together by Cornelius J. Hauck, which featured over 700 lots and documents the history of the book around the world. The sale totaled $12,401,780 almost tripling its pre-sale estimate. The highlight of the sale was the Album Amicorum – Das Grosse Stammbuch of Philip Hainhofer, an illuminated manuscript on vellum and paper in German, Italian, Latin and French, 1596-1633 which realized $2,368,000. The Cornelius J. Hauck Collection was offered by Cincinnati Museum Center and the proceeds of the sale will be used for the conservation and preservation of their extensive history collections.
“Cincinnati Museum Center is extremely pleased with the results of the sales these past two days,” said Douglass W. McDonald, president/CEO of Museum Center. “The professionalism and expertise exhibited by the Christie's staff have helped to yield the maximum benefit to Cincinnati Museum Center's important regional collections. We also appreciate the continued support of the Hauck family throughout this process.”
“Not in very many years have we felt such electricity in the air during a book auction,” commented Francis Wahlgren, Head of the Books and Manuscripts department at Christie’s New York. “The Hauck sale gives a welcome jolt to the antiquarian market. Amazing prices were seen across the board of this highly varied collection, not only for the top lots, but also at the lower end of the market. No less striking was the crucial European participation, both English and Continental. The record price of the Hainhofer Album Amicorum was the result of determined bidding from both sides of the Atlantic.”
The Hauck Collection was built through the guidance of the well-respected antiquarian bookseller, Emil Offenbacher, based in Kew Gardens (Queens), New York from 1945 until his death in 1990. Offenbacher specialized in pre-1800 imprints in science, technology and medicine and, to a lesser degree, in Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and unusual bindings. His clients included major public and private academic libraries as well as institutions such as the New York Public Library, the Newberry Library, the John Crerar Library, and the National Library of Medicine. Among the outstanding private collections he helped to build was that of Cornelius J. Hauck of Cincinnati. The collection was given to the Cincinnati Historical Society Library in 1966, where it has remained largely unknown to the world until now.
