Washington, Poe auction records set

Washington's 1787 letter to nephew Bushrod Washington argues for the ratification of the newly drafted Constitution.

The letter had been owned by descendants of Bushrod Washington for more than 100 years, Christie's said. The buyer was not identified.

The letter's rarity was the reason it commanded well over its pre-sale estimate of US$1.5 million to US$2.5 million at the auction Friday at Rockefeller Center, said an auction house spokeswoman.

The previous record for a Washington letter was US$834,500. It was set at a Christie's auction in 2002.

A volume of poetry and a partial poem handwritten by Edgar Allan Poe also set world records during an earlier auction Friday, Christie's said.

A bidding war over the poem was won by an American collector who bid US$830,500, a world record for a 19th-century literary manuscript, Christie's said. The eight verses of the 16-verse poem “For Annie” was estimated to sell for US$50,000 to US$70,000.

A rare first edition of Poe's first book, “Tamerlane and Other Poems,” sold for US$662,500 at the same auction, the highest price ever paid for a 19th-century book of poetry.

Only 12 copies of the 40-page volume of poetry, published in 1827, are known to remain. It had a pre-sale estimate of between US$500,000 to US$700,000.

A Christie's spokeswoman did not immediately have a previous auction record for works by Poe.

The metal Olivetti typewriter Cormac McCarthy used while writing his novels, including “The Road” and “No Country for Old Men,” sold at the afternoon auction for an eye-popping US$254,500. It had been estimated to sell for US$15,000 to US$20,000.

McCarthy also invited the winner to join him for lunch at the Sante Fe Institute. The 76-year-old writer donated the auction's proceeds to the nonprofit institute in New Mexico.

The prices include a buyer's premium of 20 percent for items from US$50,000 to US$1 million and 12 percent for items above US$1 million.

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