Heritage Auctions' 2012 results pay testament to the ever-expanding market for collectibles, with its fourth straight year of record sales.
![]() Record breaking sales of comic art secured Heritage's postion as a market leader |
In a recent release, the auction house states that 2012 brought more than $860m, bolstered by new customers. "Heritage is attracting new customers across more categories than ever before," commented Heritage Auctions CEO Steve Ivy.
This increased interest was also seen in Christie's 2012 results, with a 53% increase in the average number of registered bidders, 19% of which are new clients.
Of all the categories offered, world and ancient coins have seen the biggest growth at Heritage, up 40% to $25.4m last year. US coins play the largest role in the company's sales, with a record $218.6m seen in 2012.
Emerging markets such as comic books and comic art also saw success in 2012, with a 17% increase in sales over 2011's figures. Heritage is now among the leading comic book auction houses, with the outstanding sales of Todd McFarlane's original The Amazing Spider-Man cover art and the first Calvin Hobbes Sunday comic strip ever sold at auction cementing its reputation among collectors.
Paul Fraser Collectibles also has a superb selection of comic art for sale - join this expanding market while there are plenty of options still available.
The auction house remained the market leader for sports memorabilia in 2012, with more than $19.2m in sales. The top sale in the category was the Black Swamp Find baseball cards, 37 of which sold for a combined $566,131 in August.
In a similar fashion to Christie's, Heritage Auctions also partly attributed its increased sales to new technology, which allows easier access to the facilities on its website.
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