Posts Tagged ‘book auction’

National Book Auction’s David Hall Pled Guilty

Wednesday, August 5th, 2020

A new National Book Auction/Worth Auctions notice came in via email, and it made me wonder what happened to the legal case against owner David Hall for defrauding a consignee. It turns out he pled guilty back in February:

Local auctioneer David Hall was again in court on Monday to accept a plea for cheating a Tompkins County man out of $227,000.

Hall, a resident of Spencer, plead guilty to second-degree Grand Larceny, a class C felony, for taking items on consignment valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars and not paying out the proceeds to the consigner after the items sold at auction.

The victim in the most recent case, as part of a saga of lawsuits brought against the auctioneer for defrauding customers, consigned thousands of his late brother’s items to Hall’s Freeville-based company Worth Auctions and National Book Auctions back in Feb. 2017.

Hall was indicted on the second-degree grand larceny charge in August. Though there are sales records from auctions throughout the spring and summer of 2017, Hall allegedly only ever paid out the seller $50,000 of the $325,000 he made selling the items. As part of the plea, Hall must pay full restitution in the sum of $227,100 to the victim.

Hall faces a heavy financial penalty, as well as possible jail time. Grand Larceny in the second degree carries a maximum possible period of incarceration of 15 years. Hall is due for sentencing in Tompkins County Court on April 2, at 1 p.m.

In May, Hall was ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution after it was found that he had defrauded more than 100 consumers since 2015 following a case prosecuted by the New York Attorney General’s Office.

I cannot find any update on sentencing. Maybe that’s another thing delayed due to the Wuhan coronavirus…

National Book Auctions Owner David Hall Arrested for Fraud

Tuesday, February 5th, 2019

This was bought up by a commenter on an older thread, but I thought it worth a post on its own, even if it falls into the “old news is so exciting” category.

National Books Auction owner David Hall was arrested for fraud by the New York State Police late last year:

David Hall, the long established auctioneer who runs National Book Auctions and Worth Auctions in Freeville, New York near Ithaca, has been arrested and charged with second degree grand larceny. This comes on the heels of persistent reports over the past several years of non-payment to consignors. On Ithaca.com a story on this development describes the indictment as “adding credence to the growing number of people in Tompkins County and across the country who say they’ve been cheated by his business.”

Such issues are hardly front page news as auction houses in every generation encounter such disputes as they maneuver between consignors and buyers, changing markets and occasional problems collecting from winning bidders. Almost all such issues are settled privately. It is rare for auctioneers and auction principals to be arrested.

Mr. Hall was taken into custody on November 19th on the charge that he handled the sale of an estate valued at over $500,000 and subsequently failed to fully pay the consignor.

He was remanded to the Tompkins County jail after arraignment and held on $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 property bond.

The investigation into Hall by the New York State Police began late last year, in which he was accused of selling an estate valued at over $500,000, but failed to pay what was owed to the original owner after the auction sale. Eventually, he began to pay back the money but by Monday afternoon [November 19th], when he turned himself in, he still allegedly owed the consignor over $200,000.

I didn’t hear about this when it happened, but it does explain why a lot of recent NBA auctions have seemed to have been filled with “junk lots” of little real interest.

I sent an email to NBA asking if there were any additional news on the case, but they haven’t written back, and their news page hasn’t been updated since January 3, 2016…

Library Addition: Signed First of Joseph Payne Brennan’s The Borders Just Beyond

Friday, September 9th, 2016

Another item from the werewolf and vampire lots at that National Book Auction.

Brennan, Joseph Payne. The Borders Just Beyond. Donald M. Grant, 1986. First edition hardback, one of 750 copies, all signed by Brennan, a Fine copy in a Fine-dust jacket with a tiny bit of wear wear at points. Chalker/Owings, 223.

brennan-borders

img_0920

Part of the same $55 lot as the three Derleth Arkham House books.

Library Additions: Two H. Warner Munn First Editions

Thursday, September 8th, 2016

More from the National Book Auctions werewolf collection offering:

  • Munn, H. Warner. Tales of the Werewolf Clan Volume One: The Tomb of the Bishop. Donald M. Grant, 1979. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a few small nicks at extremities. Illustrated by “Jeff K. Potter” before he started initializing his first name. Chalker/Owings, 219-220.

    munn-werewolf-1

  • Munn, H. Warner. Tales of the Werewolf Clan Volume Two: The Master Goes Home. Donald M. Grant, 1980. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Also illustrated by Potter. Chalker/Owings, 220.

    munn-werewolf-2

  • Part of the same eight book/$60 lot as the Boucher.

    Library Addition: Anthony Boucher’s The Compleat Werewolf

    Wednesday, September 7th, 2016

    Here’s the second post on books from that National Book Auction:

    Boucher, Anthony. The Compleat Werewolf. Simon & Schuster, 1969. First edition hardback (“First Printing” stated), a Fine- copy with slight dust soiling at head and heel in a Fine- dust jacket with a thin line of dust staining along spine join on rear cover. Jones/Newman, Horror 100 66. Bleiler, Guide to Supernatural Fiction 232.

    Boucher Werewolf

    Part of an eight book lot I paid $60 for, of which others will be listed here in coming days…

    Library Additions: Five Items in Wraps

    Wednesday, August 31st, 2016

    Still more items from the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale. The only characteristic they share is that all are paperbound of one sort or another, but none are standard trade paperbacks or mass market paperbacks.

  • Aldiss, Brian. Science Fiction Blues With Brian Aldiss. Avernus, 2000. First edition oversized chapbook original (A4 sized), a Fine- copy with a slight bit of bend on the left side. Program for some sort of Aldiss reading or performance, which also happens to contain three original Aldiss stories as well as other material. Odd little item. Bought for £3 after discount.

    Aldiss SF Blues

  • Ferret, Tim: We Murder. Morrigan Publications/The Dog Factory, 1994. First edition center-stapled chapbook original, #165 of 200 signed, numbered copies (though the limitation sheet, slightly smaller than the chapbook itself, has merely been laid in, not attached, presumably as issued), a Fine copy. According to Cold Tonnage: “This was the last book(let) to be published by Morrigan Press and got very little (if no) distribution.” Chalker/Owings (2002), page 557, where they note “The 1994 Ferret chapbook was a surprise, but the fact that checks were made out to [Morrigan owner Les] Escott personally and the chapbook was typeset from Ferret’s The Dog Factory in San Francisco and printed in New Zealand (!) doesn’t suggest a really major reinvolvement and seems an aberration.” Bought for £3 after discount.

    Ferret We Murder

    Lewis, Anthony R. An Annotated Bibliography Of Recursive Science Fiction. NESFA Press, 1986. First edition oversized 8 1/2″ x 11″ center-stapled chapbook original, a Fine copy. Non-fiction reference work. Bought for £3 after discount.

    Recursive SF

  • Lupoff, Richard. Nebogipfel At The End Of Time. Underwood/Miller, 1979. First edition, tiny oblong (5 1/2″ wide by 4 1/4″ long) side-stapled chapbook, one of 300 copies printed, a Fine copy. According to Chalker/Owings, there are 15 different color covers; this one is beige. Supposedly a Cthulhu Mythos story, but not in Ernest or Harms. Chalker/Owings (2002), page 900. Bought for £4.80 after discount.

    Nebogipfel

  • Sotheby’s Catalogue: Science Fiction Art, Books And Related Memorabilia b/w Sotheby’s Catalogue: Comic Books and Comic Art. Sotheby’s, 1995. First edition oversize illustrated pictorial covers, a Fine copy. Illustrated color catalogue for the June 16/17, 1995, Comic Books And Comic Art and Science Fiction books auctions. Unfortunately for my purposes, there’s a lot more comic book and art material than SF first editions. Bought for £6 after discount.

    Sotheby's SF catalog 1995

  • Two Highlights of the Forthcoming Bonhams Book Auction

    Thursday, May 26th, 2016

    Bonhams has a book auction coming up on June 8. There are a lot of interesting things outside of fiction (like Mohammed Ali’s passport), but very few items of interest to science fiction collectors.

    However, there are two quite notable exceptions:

  • A first edition of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged inscribed to Barbara Branden. For those unfamiliar with Rand, Barbara Branden was one of Rand’s closest friends before the break between Rand and her protege/lover Nathaniel Branden, Barbara’s husband. Rand and Barbara Branden would later reconcile toward the end of Rand’s life, after which Barbara Branden would write The Passion of Ayn Rand, so even though this is quite a worn copy, it’s among the best possible association copies of Rand’s most influential book.
  • An autographed letter from Thomas Pynchon. I don’t need to tell you how rare a Pynchon signature is, do I?
  • Pynchon Simpsons

    H. P. Lovecraft Auction Watch

    Thursday, March 17th, 2016

    Multiple items of interest to the fanatical H.P. Lovecraft collector are coming up for auction soon:

  • A 31-page collaborative manuscript between Lovecraft and celebrated magician/escape artist Harry Houdini will come up for auction at Chicago’s Potter & Potter on April 9. It will start at an opening bid of $13,000, though the estimate is in the $25,000—$40,000 range. And it could go for a lot more, given that Houdini has his own fanatical collectors.
  • There are also numerous Lovecraft items, most from Stu Schiff’s collection, coming up at Heritage Auctions on April 6. Including:

  • Ten autographed letters from Lovecraft, totaling 46 pages, most of which remain unpublished. Bidding starts at $10,000.

  • An original typescript for Lovecraft’s story “The Festival”, with Lovecraft’s handwritten title page and hand-corrections. Bidding starts at $2,000.

  • A copy of the Visionary Publishing Shadow Over Innsmouth, with an errata sheet containing further hand-corrections by Lovecraft laid in. Current bid is $1000.

  • Donald Wandrei’s copy of The Outsider and Others, and probably the finest copy I’ve ever seen to boot. Current bid is $5,000.

  • They even have the passport of Sonia Haft Greene Lovecraft (to which he had a brief, unsuccessful marriage) which L. W. Currey offered up a while back. Current bid is $550.

  • If you’re a serious Lovecraft collector, April looks like it’s going to be quite expensive…

    A Chance to Own a Stephen Hawking Signature

    Tuesday, September 29th, 2015

    Right now a book signed by Stephen Hawking be yours for only a bit over 20 grand, but expect that to go up.

    

    And it’s not even one of Hawking’s own books, but a farewell gift for a co-worker who was leaving the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy at Cambridge University signed by the faculty, including Hawking.

    “Hawking autographs are of the utmost rarity.” Indeed, though it’s already too rich for my blood, and I suspect it could easily go for 3-4 times the current price…

    Book Auction Watch: Bonhams June 18 Book Auction

    Thursday, May 29th, 2014

    Auction houses other than Heritage do occasionally offer up notable science fiction first editions. On June 18, Bonhams is offering up:

  • A first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit in a tattered dust jacket. Copies in dust jacket are not unknown, but they do come on the market fairly infrequently, so even one (like this) with significant chips is likely to go for a pretty penny.
  • The first U.S. edition of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth.
  • However, the most expensive item in the auction is probably not SF, but one of the 150 signed oversized arches paper first editions (out of a total of 1,000 copies for all states) of James Joyce’s Ulysses, once owned by a friend of Vladamir Nabakov. These were rare enough to begin with, but the oversized paperback nature pretty much guarantees it’s designed to fall apart over time, so even remotely intact copies are very expensive when you find them. A comparable copy of this edition in a more common binding state sold for $35,000 at Heritage in 2012, and James Cummins has a copy of the arches paper edition that once belonged to composer Virgil Thomson listed for $75,000. It wouldn’t surprise me to see some collector of modernist highpoints go bonkers over this…