Christie's auction

[Paul Koning]

>>>>> "Tom" == Tom Jennings <tomj at wps.com> writes:

 Tom> On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 shoppa_classiccmp at trailing-edge.com wrote:
 >> These are journals that any University library has multiple copies
 >> of (probably one in the math department, one in the main library).
 >> If each of these issues was worth the $1000-$2000 that Christie's
 >> says it is, we could solve all of the public university's funding
 >> problems for a century without a problem.

 Tom> You're making a logical argument where one is not applicable.

 Tom> In this example, Turing wrote a world-changing paper in 1938, on
 Tom> an obscure problem in mathematics that -- unbeknownst quite at
 Tom> the time -- turned the world on it's head. The publication was
 Tom> obscure.  This is a rare event. It's not any issue of any pub,
 Tom> it's the one Turing's paper was in.

Sure, but it's still a magazine.  Presumably printed in the typical
small runs of academic journals, but still, unlikely to be unique.  If
it were the manuscript, I'd believe the estimate.  For that matter,
I'd believe the price they put on Jacquard's paper, for that reason.
But for 20th century printed stuff, 3 figures seems more plausible.

    paul