SAN FRANCISCO – PBA Galleries, the West Coast’s leading auctioneer of fine books, manuscripts and printed material, will conduct its debut Fine Pens Auction, to be held in San Francisco on July 19 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time/2 p.m. Eastern. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.
NEW YORK — People have been collecting memorabilia for centuries, going back to the Ancient Greek and Roman eras, when Alexander the Great started building Alexandria’s esteemed library and filling it with thousands of signed manuscripts. Just about everyone can relate to autographs. For many of us, it began during our teenage years, asking friends to sign high school yearbook pages. Or, we might recall waiting in line for hours to get a favorite entertainer’s autograph on a photo.
MOUNDVILLE, Ala. (AP) – The reward for information leading to the recovery of more 260 artifacts stolen from Moundville Archaeological Park decades ago has been increased from $15,000 to $20,000.
MOSCOW (AP) – The Russian Defense Ministry says that scientists in Damascus have begun reconstructing ancient sculptures from the city of Palmyra that were damaged by the Islamic State group during Syria’s civil war.
BOSTON (AP) – A letter written nearly 500 years ago by Martin Luther in which he refers to Jews as “devils incarnate” during a tirade against a former ally is up for auction, but Luther scholars warn that the man responsible for the Reformation should not be called anti-Semitic.
The single-page letter, with writing on both sides, is expected to sell for at least $300,000 at the auction being conducted by Boston-based RR Auction that concludes Wednesday. The fully illustrated auction catalog can be viewed on LiveAuctioneers.
NEWCOMERSTOWN, Ohio – The Cy Young Festival Committee will host its first auction on Aug. 25. The festival committee is partnering with artist Mark Lewis, a modern contemporary portrait artist who was born in Akron, Ohio and now resides in Glendora, California. A highlight of the auction is an original 30-by-40-inch portrait of Cy Young, baseball’s all-time winningest pitcher.