Press release -
Hans Christian Andersen Picture Book Sold for DKK 2.9 Million
The summer's international auction in Copenhagen began in style on Tuesday when we sold a unique picture book from 1868-69 by Hans Christian Andersen for DKK 2.9 million (€ 507,000 including buyer’s premium). This is a Danish auction record for a work by the world-famous Danish author.
"When Hans Christian Andersen made this picture book, he probably wasn’t expecting that it would one day be sold for such an impressive hammer price. It is proof that even today there is an enormous interest for both Andersen’s literature and for his creative skills as a visual artist, which is fully understandable," says Lærke Bøgh, Head of the department of books, manuscripts and letters at Bruun Rasmussen.
In the fall of 1868, Hans Christian Andersen spent several months in seclusion. During this time he eagerly wrote, cut and pasted. The result was a stunningly illustrated, fantastical 184-page travel book, which he gave to the little girl Marie Henriques (1866-1944) on her 3rd birthday in 1869.
Marstrand’s Unusual Family Portrait
Included in yesterday's auction, there was also an unusual family portrait by the Danish painter Wilhelm Marstrand. It depicts the beautiful Afro-Caribbean nanny Justina with the artist's two nieces Emily Ottilie and Annie Lætitia. The work achieved an impressive hammer price of DKK 900,000 (€ 150,000 including buyer’s premium). In general, there was a great deal of interest in the fine art at Tuesday’s auction.
The international auction in Bredgade has only just begun and continues this week as well as the next – until Friday, 9 June.
Topics
Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers is one of Scandinavia’s leading international auction houses, and one of Denmark’s oldest. It all started on 6 October 1948, when Arne Bruun Rasmussen conducted the first traditional auction in the saleroom at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen. Today, Jesper Bruun Rasmussen stands at the helm of the family-run business together with the third generation of the family, his son Frederik and daughter Alexa, and the company’s CEO Jakob Dupont.
In 2004, the first online auction was launched, and today the auction house has expanded to include departments in Copenhagen and Aarhus and representations in Sweden, Germany, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Spain, Italy, Thailand and the US. About 100,000 lots are put up for auction each year at the traditional auctions and daily online auctions. Here you can bid on everything from art, antiques, modern design and jewellery to books, coins, stamps, wine and weaponry.
