Heritage Auction Galleries advertises itself as the world's largest collectibles auctioneer and the third largest auction house, with over $700 million in annual sales and 450,000 online bidder-members.
Established in 1976 in
Dallas, TexasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
by Steve Ivy and
Jim HalperinJames L. Halperin is an American author and businessman. Halperin authored a text on grading coins, How to Grade U.S. Coins, upon which the grading standards of the two leading third-party grading services PCGS and NGC were ultimately based...
, Heritage specializes in Historical Memorabilia, American and Political Memorabilia, Western Photography and Artifacts, Rare Books & Manuscripts, American Indian Art, Civil War Memorabilia, Natural History and Space Memorabilia, Fine and Decorative Art, Texas Art, Illustration Art, Silver, US and World
CoinsContextObjects in Spans, commonly abbreviated COinS, is a method of embedding latent OpenURL ContextObjects in the HTML code of Web pages. This allows client software to retrieve bibliographic metadata, e. g...
,
ComicsComics is a graphic medium in which images are utilized in order to convey a sequential narrative; the term, derived from massive early use to convey comic themes, came to be applied to all uses of this medium including those which are far from comic...
& Comic Art,
CurrencyIn economics, the term currency can refer either to a particular currency, for example the US dollar, or to the coins and banknotes of a particular currency, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
, Entertainment & Music Memorabilia, Jewelry & Timepieces, Handbags, Movie Posters, Sports Collectibles, Stamps and others.
Heritage Auction Galleries is a privately owned company, with headquarters in Dallas, Texas and offices in Houston, Texas as well as multiple locations in Germany, Switzerland, Holland and France.
Heritage Auction Galleries advertises itself as the world's largest collectibles auctioneer and the third largest auction house, with over $700 million in annual sales and 450,000 online bidder-members.
Established in 1976 in
Dallas, TexasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
by Steve Ivy and
Jim HalperinJames L. Halperin is an American author and businessman. Halperin authored a text on grading coins, How to Grade U.S. Coins, upon which the grading standards of the two leading third-party grading services PCGS and NGC were ultimately based...
, Heritage specializes in Historical Memorabilia, American and Political Memorabilia, Western Photography and Artifacts, Rare Books & Manuscripts, American Indian Art, Civil War Memorabilia, Natural History and Space Memorabilia, Fine and Decorative Art, Texas Art, Illustration Art, Silver, US and World
CoinsContextObjects in Spans, commonly abbreviated COinS, is a method of embedding latent OpenURL ContextObjects in the HTML code of Web pages. This allows client software to retrieve bibliographic metadata, e. g...
,
ComicsComics is a graphic medium in which images are utilized in order to convey a sequential narrative; the term, derived from massive early use to convey comic themes, came to be applied to all uses of this medium including those which are far from comic...
& Comic Art,
CurrencyIn economics, the term currency can refer either to a particular currency, for example the US dollar, or to the coins and banknotes of a particular currency, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
, Entertainment & Music Memorabilia, Jewelry & Timepieces, Handbags, Movie Posters, Sports Collectibles, Stamps and others.
Heritage Auction Galleries is a privately owned company, with headquarters in Dallas, Texas and offices in Houston, Texas as well as multiple locations in Germany, Switzerland, Holland and France. Heritage has also announced plans to open high-profile locations in Beverly Hills, California in January 2010, and in Midtown Manhattan later in 2010.
Heritage Auctions combines both proxy and live Internet bidding with traditional floor auctions. In both 1999 and 2001, www.HeritageCoin.com, the predecessor to www.HA.com, was chosen by
ForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, Forbes magazine, is published fortnightly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published fortnightly, and Business Week...
Magazine as one of the 250 best sites on the Internet. According to Internet traffic measurement site Compete.com, HA.com receives more than twice as many visitors as Sothebys.com and Christies.com combined. Heritage hosts separate website sections for each type of collectible they support and each lot's web listing contains third-party pricing and rarity data.
In addition to live and online auctions, the various Heritage websites offer useful information for collectors. Some of the sites (coins, for example) have an extensive glossary of terms. Many lot descriptions contain colorful human interest stories related to the item. Also, there are archives of over 2,000,000 lots, permitting the collector to research items of interest for descriptions, images, population, pedigrees and prices realized in past auctions.
Significant auctions held through the firm include the
Nicolas CageNicolas Cage is an American actor.Cage pursued acting as a career, making his debut on television in 1981...
comic book collection, sold for $5.2 million in October 2002, the highest grossing
numismaticNumismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and...
auction (over $65.1 million at the 2007 Florida United Numismatists auction, not including currency), the highest grossing currency auction (over $14 million for the auction held at the Long Beach Coin and Collectibles Expo in September 2006), and the highest price for an action figure ($200,000 for Don Levine's original
G.I. JoeG.I. Joe is a line of military-themed articulated "action figures" produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot and Action Marine . The term G.I. stands for...
prototype in July 2003).
Notable Auctions
- In April 2005, Heritage Auctions offered the microphone used by long time Tonight Show host Johnny Carson
John William “Johnny” Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
on the show. Inscribed “Johnny’s Mic… Not Ed’s… Not Fred’s”, this relic of late night TV realized $50,787.50. Six months later, Carson’s desk from the show appeared in a subsequent Heritage auction and realized $38,837.50.
- A twenty dollar bill, printed in error over a Del Monte
Del Monte Foods is an American food production and distribution company based in San Francisco, California.It offers canned goods in Del Monte, S&W and Contadina brands, pet foods under Kibbles n' Bits, 9Lives, Pounce, Milk-Bone and several premium brands.-History:In the 1870s and '80s, California...
Banana sticker, caught the attention of collectors and non-collectors alike when it realized $25,300 in a Heritage Auction in January 2006.
- The Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
Collection, personal artifacts consigned to Heritage Auctions directly from his wife Maria ElenaMaría Elena Holly* is the widow of the late rock and roll singer Buddy Holly. She owns the rights to his name, image, trademarks, and other intellectual property.-Early years:...
, were offered in February 2006. A watch worn by Holly when his plane went down realized $155,350 in this auction.
- In October 2007, Heritage Auctions sold the flight log of the Enola Gay’s
The Enola Gay is the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb, code-named "Little Boy", to be used in war, by the United States Army Air Forces in the attack on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945, just before the end of World War II...
navigator for $358,500.
- The largest four tusk mastodon skull ever found realized $191,200 in a January 2008 Heritage auction, benefiting the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum in Crosbyton, TX
Crosbyton is a city in and the county seat of Crosby County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,874 at the 2000 census. Crosbyton is part of the Lubbock Metropolitan Statistical Area....
.
- In February 2008, a collection of the earliest US cents, 301 coins assembled by collector Walter J. Husak
Walter J. Husak is the owner of an aerospace-part manufacturing company in Burbank, California. On February 15, 2008, an auction house sold his collection of 301 rare pennies in Long Beach, California. Two of the pennies went for $632,500 a piece...
and minted between 1793 and 1814, brought in $10.7 million against pre-auction estimates of $7 million. According to Heritage Auctions president Greg Rohan, at that time this was the biggest result ever for a collection of cents.
- Heritage Auctions has sold two examples of the legendary 1804 silver dollar
The 1804 Silver Dollar is a United States dollar coin considered to be one of the rarest and most famous coins in the world, due to its unique history. Divided into "Classes," 15 specimens are known. 8 comprise Class I, which were minted in 1834. Two Class I specimens trace their lineage to the...
. The Mickley-Hawn-Queller example, graded proof 62 NGC, realized $3,737,500 in April 2008 , making it the third most valuable coin ever sold at auction according to A Guide Book of United States Coins. The Adams-Carter specimen, graded Proof 58 NGC, realized $2,300,000 in April, 2009.
- When Playboy Enterprises
Playboy Enterprises, Inc. , also organized as New Playboy, Inc. , is the company founded by Hugh Marston Hefner to manage the Playboy magazine empire. Today, Playboy Enterprises, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development and distribution of adult entertainment. The Playboy...
decided to part with 17 pieces from their art collection, they contacted Heritage Auctions, who offered them in a March 2009 auction. These pieces realized a total of nearly $193,000. Playboy has consigned additional artworks to each subsequent Heritage Illustration Art auction, which occur several times per year.
- Capt. Nathan Harlan, a soldier stationed in Iraq, owned a first edition volume of “The Federalist”
The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788...
that he had found at a garage sale. After doing research on the Internet, he chose Heritage Auctions, who waived their seller’s commission out of respect to Capt. Harlan’s service . This book, originally estimated at $8,000-$12,000, realized $95,600 when the hammer finally fell in June, 2009.
- Heritage Auctions was chosen to handle the estate of noted art collector Charles Martignette. The collection, which contains 4300 paintings from the likes of Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas was a noted painter of pin-up girls and erotica.-Biography:Born in Arequipa, Peru, Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chávez came to the United States in 1916 after studying art in Europe prior to World War I. He was the son of famous Peruvian photographer Carlos Vargas...
, Gil ElvgrenGil Elvgren , born Gilette Elvgren, was an American painter of pin-up girls, advertising and illustration. Elvgren lived in various locations, and was active from the 1930s to 1970s. Today he is best known for his pin-up paintings for Brown & Bigelow...
, and Norman RockwellNorman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four...
, was expected to bring in upwards of $20 million in a series of auctions . The first two auctions, which took place in July 2009, comprised about 350 works and realized $2.6 million.
- On July 25, 2009, Heritage Auctions sold a Double Derringer belonging to John Dillinger
John Herbert Dillinger was an American bank robber in the Midwest during the early 1930s. He was considered to be a dangerous criminal who was involved in the deaths of several police officers, robbed at least two dozen banks and four police stations, escaped from jail twice and was idolized by...
for $95,600, more than double the pre-auction estimate of $35,000-$45,000. Subsequently, Dillinger's sister's family has consigned their keepsakes, including many iconic items, which will be auctioned by Heritage in late 2009 and in 2010.
- A Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , also popularly known as "Babe" Ruth, "The Bambino", and "The Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from –...
game-used bat dating to the 1918 season sold in October 2009 for $537,750 in an auction held by Heritage Auctions. This bat served as the model for every future bat made for Ruth by the Hillerich & BradsbyHillerich & Bradsby Company is a company located in that produces the famous Louisville Slugger baseball bat. The Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in downtown Louisville features a retrospective of the product and its use throughout baseball history.H&B also makes baseball gloves, golf clubs,...
factory.