Imperial Russia Russian Imperial Orders at auction

[PAVEL]

Hello all,

Statistics being part of my job and considering the present world financial situation I wondered how was the situation on the front of imperial russian orders & medals at auction.

Please find attached, for two of the main auction houses in Moscow, the results, in terms of sold lots, at their auctions since June 2006.

As we can see the % of unsold lots drops dramatically in 2008 - 68% of unsold lots for the last auction !!! and for most of the sold lots the hammer price was at the low estimate or below - only some exceptional items (St Andrew collar, white Eagle 1852, St Anna beg. XIXth century) were hammered at usual Moscow high prices.

Maybe one day we will be again able to buy at reasonable prices our favorite orders !

Regards

Pavel

Auction date

[PAVEL]

Auction date

[PAVEL]

Auction House Auction date Total lots Sold lots % Sold lots

M&M

[PAVEL]

Auction House Auction date Total lots Sold lots % Sold lots

M&M

[PAVEL]

Auction House Auction date Total lots Sold lots % sold lots

M&M June 2006 200

[PAVEL]

Auction House Auction date Total lots Sold lots % sold lots

M&M June 2006 200

[PAVEL]

Hello all,

Statistics being part of my job and considering the present world financial situation I wondered how was the situation on the front of imperial russian orders & medals at auction.

Please find attached, for two of the main auction houses in Moscow, the results, in terms of sold lots, at their auctions since June 2006.

As we can see the % of unsold lots drops dramatically in 2008 - 68% of unsold lots for the last auction !!! and for most of the sold lots the hammer price was at the low estimate or below - only some exceptional items (St Andrew collar, white Eagle 1852, St Anna beg. XIXth century) were hammered at usual Moscow high prices.

Maybe one day we will be again able to buy at reasonable prices our favorite orders !

Regards

Pavel

Something wrong to upload an Excel or Word file !!!

[PAVEL]

Hello all,

Statistics being part of my job and considering the present world financial situation I wondered how was the situation on the front of imperial russian orders & medals at auction.

Please find attached, for two of the main auction houses in Moscow, the results, in terms of sold lots, at their auctions since June 2006.

As we can see the % of unsold lots drops dramatically in 2008 - 68% of unsold lots for the last auction !!! and for most of the sold lots the hammer price was at the low estimate or below - only some exceptional items (St Andrew collar, white Eagle 1852, St Anna beg. XIXth century) were hammered at usual Moscow high prices.

Maybe one day we will be again able to buy at reasonable prices our favorite orders !

Regards

Pavel

Something wrong to upload an Excel or Word file !!!

[Riley1965]

Pavel,

I hope that this is a sign of things to come...a return to affordable prices.

Doc

[PAVEL]

Hope this is readable !

Auction house / Auction date / Total lots / Sold lots / % sold lots

M&M June 2006 200 186 93%

M&M Dec. 2006 250 212 85%

M&M June 2007 300 239 80%

K Sept. 2007 236 191 81%

M&M Dec. 2007 422 359 85%

K March 2008 284 189 67%

K June 2008 251 156 62%

M&M June 2008 460 238 52%

K Oct. 2008 286 92 32%

[Yankee]

Hope this is readable !

Auction house / Auction date / Total lots / Sold lots / % sold lots

M&M June 2006 200 186 93%

M&M Dec. 2006 250 212 85%

M&M June 2007 300 239 80%

K Sept. 2007 236 191 81%

M&M Dec. 2007 422 359 85%

K March 2008 284 189 67%

K June 2008 251 156 62%

M&M June 2008 460 238 52%

K Oct. 2008 286 92 32%

Hi Pavel

What is the web address of "K" auction house. As for the decline in buying due primarily from nose dive in oil which Russia's economy is based on. Perhaps things will return to normalllllllllll for us collectors price wise.

Sincerely

Yankee

[PAVEL]

Hi Pavel

What is the web address of "K" auction house. As for the decline in buying due primarily from nose dive in oil which Russia's economy is based on. Perhaps things will return to normalllllllllll for us collectors price wise.

Sincerely

Yankee

Hi Yankee,

http://www.kabinet-auktion.com/

another one

http://www.znak-auction.ru/

Have a nice reading

Pavel

[Veteran]

Hello Pavel

Thank you for providing us with this fascinating glimpse into Russian auctions sales. I must admit that I cannot relate very well to the Rouble as it might be worth compared to the Euro, Sterling or Dollar.

It does look, indeed, as if starting prices have been lately considered too high. Let's see what come out of the next sales, first in Basel, next in London.

This type of exchange is of significant importance to all serious collectors of older material. Please keep us posted with further developments, as they appear.

Regards

Paul

[Claudius]

Hello Veteran;

si vous svp. o? est l'ench?re basel ? O? est Londres ench?re ?

merci'

[Yankee]

Hi Pavel

Thanks for those neat far far away auction sites. Luckily able to get my wife to translate.

The Best single collection to have gone on the block I feel was the Foerster, sold through Sothebys in 99. This guy had a really good eye....

Sincerely

Yankee

[Veteran]

Claudius

The auction sale in Basle (Switzerland) was conducted by UBS AG on Nov. 4/5. It was a general collection with a superb catalogue featuring 69 Russian pieces, in a world wide collection. Some excellent orders went sky high. You will find the catalogue and results on www.ubs.com/numismatics

The Morton & Edent catalogue has just been published for their sale in London, to be held Nov. 26. It concentrates on Russian and USSR Medals, Orders, Badges and Coins. Over 430 items on offer, beautifully illustrated. It should, in my mind, be a very significant test for the international market.

www.mortonandeden.com

Hope you find this useful

Regards

Paul

Edited November 7, 2008 by Veteran

[PAVEL]

Hi Veteran

I did not know UBS was selling at auction ! After a quick look it seems that almost all lots were sold and several quite uncommon orders went sky high (unfortunately it will be always the case for those pieces). Let's wait for the results of the numerous auctions in November.

About the "Morton & Eden" auction, never seen so many terms as : "sold as copy","later assembled", "modern reproduction","possibly unofficial","later medallions","enamel repaired","altered & refurbished","later applied or unofficial swords","heavily restored" ! Or more honest description than at the other auctions ! Anyway will not attend that one !

Regards

Pavel

[PAVEL]

Hi Yankee,

Yes the Foerster collection was a top one ! When you think that this guy started his collection when he was 65 in 1978 ! By the way do you have the results of that auction ?

Another fabulous collection sold in M?nchen in 2000 : "Russian orders of a titled family" ... only first class orders !!!! .

For those interested :

Recent or next auction catalogs in Europe :

Oct. 25 Moscow http://www.kabinet-auktion.com/auction/8528/ (all russian items)

Oct. 31 Germany http://www.andreas-thies.de/kataloge/36_auktion.html

******************************

Nov.8 Moscow http://www.znak-auction.ru/live/1/ (all russian items)

Nov. 15 Hamburg http://www.zeige.com/en/index2.html (100 imp. russ. items)

Nov. 19 Vienna http://www.dorotheum.at/auktionen/auktions...chnungen-2.html (30 imp. russ. items)

Nov.20 London http://www.spink.com/auctions/pdf/default.asp (only 6 imp.russ. items !)

Nov 29 London http://www.coins-la-galerie-numismatique.c...tion.php?aid=12 (240 imp. russ. orders & badges)

Nov. 29 Moscow http://www.numismat.ru/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?auct=54 (all russian items)

Regards

Pavel

[Claudius]

Thank you Pavel and Veteran!

If I may ask...how do you navigate through the russian language only webpages? Do you need to know enough russian to get by or is there a translation link I don't know about.

Thank you,

Claudius

[Yankee]

Hi Yankee,

Yes the Foerster collection was a top one ! When you think that this guy started his collection when he was 65 in 1978 ! By the way do you have the results of that auction ?

Another fabulous collection sold in M?nchen in 2000 : "Russian orders of a titled family" ... only first class orders !!!! .

For those interested :

Recent or next auction catalogs in Europe :

Oct. 25 Moscow http://www.kabinet-auktion.com/auction/8528/ (all russian items)

Oct. 31 Germany http://www.andreas-thies.de/kataloge/36_auktion.html

******************************

Nov.8 Moscow http://www.znak-auction.ru/live/1/ (all russian items)

Nov. 15 Hamburg http://www.zeige.com/en/index2.html (100 imp. russ. items)

Nov. 19 Vienna http://www.dorotheum.at/auktionen/auktions...chnungen-2.html (30 imp. russ. items)

Nov.20 London http://www.spink.com/auctions/pdf/default.asp (only 6 imp.russ. items !)

Nov 29 London http://www.coins-la-galerie-numismatique.c...tion.php?aid=12 (240 imp. russ. orders & badges)

Nov. 29 Moscow http://www.numismat.ru/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?auct=54 (all russian items)

Regards

Pavel

Hi Pavel

Sorry I do not have the results on that one. I thought it was a lifetime collection. Amazing this guy started later in life to build up such a collection with only orginal pieces not one being suspect, certainly did his homework or had some really great tutors. But then again back in the 70's prices were reasonable & fakes were not a problem as they are today. Amazing the estimates in the Russian auctions are much higher then in the West. The Dorotheum is good for they focus heavily on Austria, which is still reasonable.... Coins-la-galerie comes out with a phone book

Sincerely

Yankee

[kimj]

Just an observation. Here in Sweden there was a big militaria auction last weekend. All imperial Russia lots were sold, well over the estimate.

www.probusauktioner.se

/Kim

[Noor]

There is one small online auction soon now in Finland and few imperial groups on sale as well. Unfortunitly I didn't known this place before, they had been sold so many nice items under the current market value (last month went one group of 5 awards including St.Georg cross, medal for zeal, Russo-Japanese war, etc - 240 EUR or something like that. Someone was happy!) This month I have my pids done and lets see whats the result is! :unsure:

Edited November 12, 2008 by Noor

[Christian J]

There is one small online auction soon now in Finland and few imperial groups on sale as well. Unfortunitly I didn't known this place before, they had been sold so many nice items under the current market value (last month went one group of 5 awards including St.Georg cross, medal for zeal, Russo-Japanese war, etc - 240 EUR or something like that. Someone was happy!) This month I have my pids done and lets see whats the result is!

Well, how did it went?

[Noor]

No luck

Its look like everything what even smells imperial russia moves only one direction from the auctions - back to the motherland!

[Claudius]

Quite sobering news.