We start the new year with an auction of books and manuscripts focused on Chicago, celebrating the city’s art and architecture, literature, sports, notable inhabitants, and historic events from the Great Fire to the present. Highlights include scarce pre-Fire imprints, early Chicago Cubs sheet music, and a vintage model of Fort Dearborn. Other sessions in the sale will feature comic books, children’s literature, Americana, fine prints, vintage photography, and posters.

Catalogs ship approximately three weeks before the auction. Previews will be held in our gallery Jan. 30—Feb. 1, 10—5pm.

Our inaugural magic auction of 2019 is the first of four sales from the collection of Jim Rawlins, a devoted student of magic and its history, who spent nearly three decades building an impressive, important, and diverse collection. A finely curated selection will go on the block, including choice objects in every collecting category. Association items from the careers of modern master magicians - Germain, Joseffy, Thurston, Blackstone, and more - will be offered side-by-side with vintage apparatus (including many Thayer and Owen-made props), signed photographs, posters, and ephemera. A strong selection of Houdiniana will also be featured. Click below to view a preview of the items to be sold.

Catalogs ship approximately three weeks before the auction. Previews will be held in our gallery Feb. 20—22, 10—5pm.

Over the course of several decades, Tom Blue has assembled one of the most impressive gambling collections in the United States. Tantalizing selections of rare and antiquarian volumes from his library will lead off the auction, including titles on poker, playing cards, cheating and advantage play, notorious gamblers, cons, criminals, and related subjects. Complementing the books, the sale will feature scarce supply catalogs, antique prints, collectable playing cards, and posters.

A fine array of the appurtenances of old-time gambling halls—dealing shoes, check racks, case keepers, layouts, and more—will also come up on the block. Crooked and square equipment, Bakelite, bone, and mother of pearl chips, dice, and antique gaming sets will round out the day.

Catalogs ship approximately three weeks before the auction. Previews will be held in our gallery March 27-29, 10-5pm.