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<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

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Forbes Auction Completes After $40 Million in Sales Publisher and collector Malcolm Forbes. By Michael Stillman The record-setting Forbes book and manuscript auction came to a conclusion this past May 22. Auctioneer Christie's described it as setting "a record total for any collection of books or manuscripts ever sold at auction." The auction took place in six sessions, the first in March 2002, the sixth just a few days ago. In total, sales from the Forbes collection totaled almost $41 million ($40,971,640 to be exact). The collection was known as "the Forbes Collection of American Historical Documents," which describes what Malcolm Forbes collected. These were overwhelmingly manuscript items with very notable American signatures. Malcolm Forbes made his first purchase, a note from Abraham Lincoln, while a freshman at Princeton. He paid on credit. By the time he became a major purchaser, in the 1960s, he no longer needed terms. Forbes made a personal fortune publishing the magazine which bears his name. From the 1960s through the 1980s, he was active at virtually every important historical document auction. Forbes died in 1990, and the collection devolved to his son, one-time presidential candidate Steve Forbes. The latter determined to break up the collection and sell most of the material at auction. Now, five years after it began, the auction has finally concluded. At the top end of the auction prices was Lincoln's copy of the last speech he gave, three days before he was assassinated. It sold for just over $3 million. Einstein's letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt sold for over $2 million, a record for a letter, while Abraham Lincoln's opera glasses, carried by the President that fateful night at Ford's Theater, brought in $424,000. The top price at the sixth and final session was $132,000, for a signed letter from George Washington to Bryan Fairfax. Fairfax was a long-time good friend of Washington, member of what had been an aristocratic family in the colonial era. The letter was dated June 15, 1783, the Revolution now over and with Washington preparing to return home from headquarters in Newburgh, New York. Notes a tired Washington, "I now, only await the arrival of the Definitive Treaty to bid adieu to public life…" Of course, it would not be so easy for Washington, as his eight years as head of the army would soon be followed by eight years as his nation's president. No, Washington did not get to "pass the remainder of my life in a state of undisturbed repose." However, the father of his nation was more on target when he cautioned the newly independent states to form an "indissoluble union."
Forbes Auction Completes After $40 Million in Sales none The second highest price went for a collection of three remarkable letters from British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to Adolf Hitler in September of 1938. Chamberlain thought he had a deal to appease Hitler by allowing him to seize portions of Czechoslovakia, only to have Hitler respond that he would invade the country shortly if the Czechs did not immediately submit to all of his demands. An agitated Chamberlain responds, "Even if I felt it right to put this proposal to the Czech Government, I am convinced that they would not regard it as being in the spirit of the arrangement which we and the French Government urged them to accept and which they have accepted. In the event of German troops moving into the areas as you propose, there is no doubt that the Czech Government would have no option but to order their forces to resist, and this would mean the destruction of the basis upon which you and I a week ago agreed to work together, namely, an orderly settlement of this question rather than a settlement by the use of force…" As we now know, and Chamberlain must have by then begun to realize, Hitler could not be appeased, and only war could stop him. The three letters sold for $96,000. Among the other ten highest priced items were two signed Lincoln documents, two more from Washington, one each from Thomas Jefferson and Walt Whitman, and two documents pertaining to the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Looking back at monumental collections such as that of Forbes, one wonders whether we will ever see a private collection its like again. The greatest private collections of the previous centuries could not be duplicated today. With each sale such as Forbes', or the bequests the great collectors often make, more of the spectacular items they once owned become absorbed into institutional collections, never to see the light of private ones again. Steve Forbes wished to see his father's collection remain available to private hands, so he chose an open public sale to dispose of it. Nonetheless, much of what Malcolm Forbes collected will wind its way to institutions, which leaves that much less available for the next great collectors. Perhaps this in part explains why we continue to see the greatest appreciation with books and ephemera at the highest end. The rich get richer.

Forbes Auction Completes After $40 Million in Sales

Publisher and collector Malcolm Forbes.

By Michael Stillman

The record-setting Forbes book and manuscript auction came to a conclusion this past May 22. Auctioneer Christie's described it as setting "a record total for any collection of books or manuscripts ever sold at auction." The auction took place in six sessions, the first in March 2002, the sixth just a few days ago. In total, sales from the Forbes collection totaled almost $41 million ($40,971,640 to be exact). The collection was known as "the Forbes Collection of American Historical Documents," which describes what Malcolm Forbes collected. These were overwhelmingly manuscript items with very notable American signatures.

Malcolm Forbes made his first purchase, a note from Abraham Lincoln, while a freshman at Princeton. He paid on credit. By the time he became a major purchaser, in the 1960s, he no longer needed terms. Forbes made a personal fortune publishing the magazine which bears his name. From the 1960s through the 1980s, he was active at virtually every important historical document auction. Forbes died in 1990, and the collection devolved to his son, one-time presidential candidate Steve Forbes. The latter determined to break up the collection and sell most of the material at auction. Now, five years after it began, the auction has finally concluded.

At the top end of the auction prices was Lincoln's copy of the last speech he gave, three days before he was assassinated. It sold for just over $3 million. Einstein's letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt sold for over $2 million, a record for a letter, while Abraham Lincoln's opera glasses, carried by the President that fateful night at Ford's Theater, brought in $424,000.

The top price at the sixth and final session was $132,000, for a signed letter from George Washington to Bryan Fairfax. Fairfax was a long-time good friend of Washington, member of what had been an aristocratic family in the colonial era. The letter was dated June 15, 1783, the Revolution now over and with Washington preparing to return home from headquarters in Newburgh, New York. Notes a tired Washington, "I now, only await the arrival of the Definitive Treaty to bid adieu to public life…" Of course, it would not be so easy for Washington, as his eight years as head of the army would soon be followed by eight years as his nation's president. No, Washington did not get to "pass the remainder of my life in a state of undisturbed repose." However, the father of his nation was more on target when he cautioned the newly independent states to form an "indissoluble union."

Forbes Auction Completes After $40 Million in Sales

none

The second highest price went for a collection of three remarkable letters from British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to Adolf Hitler in September of 1938. Chamberlain thought he had a deal to appease Hitler by allowing him to seize portions of Czechoslovakia, only to have Hitler respond that he would invade the country shortly if the Czechs did not immediately submit to all of his demands. An agitated Chamberlain responds, "Even if I felt it right to put this proposal to the Czech Government, I am convinced that they would not regard it as being in the spirit of the arrangement which we and the French Government urged them to accept and which they have accepted. In the event of German troops moving into the areas as you propose, there is no doubt that the Czech Government would have no option but to order their forces to resist, and this would mean the destruction of the basis upon which you and I a week ago agreed to work together, namely, an orderly settlement of this question rather than a settlement by the use of force…" As we now know, and Chamberlain must have by then begun to realize, Hitler could not be appeased, and only war could stop him. The three letters sold for $96,000.

Among the other ten highest priced items were two signed Lincoln documents, two more from Washington, one each from Thomas Jefferson and Walt Whitman, and two documents pertaining to the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.

Looking back at monumental collections such as that of Forbes, one wonders whether we will ever see a private collection its like again. The greatest private collections of the previous centuries could not be duplicated today. With each sale such as Forbes', or the bequests the great collectors often make, more of the spectacular items they once owned become absorbed into institutional collections, never to see the light of private ones again. Steve Forbes wished to see his father's collection remain available to private hands, so he chose an open public sale to dispose of it. Nonetheless, much of what Malcolm Forbes collected will wind its way to institutions, which leaves that much less available for the next great collectors. Perhaps this in part explains why we continue to see the greatest appreciation with books and ephemera at the highest end. The rich get richer.