From Deseret News archives:
Auction to feature first-edition Book of Mormon
Rare copy at sale in New York could fetch close to $100,000
This week, that first edition Book of Mormon goes on the auction block, too, one more example of increased interest in rare LDS documents.
Wednesday's sale, at Hessney Auction Center in Geneva, N.Y., features an 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, which LDS Church founder Joseph Smith said he translated from gold plates. One of 5,000 originally printed and less than 600 believed to still exist, the first edition's estimated price is between $70,000 and $90,000, according to Hessney manager Mark Witmer.
That was also the estimate back in September for a similar first edition of the book, but that auction fetched $96,000, plus a commission that boosted the price nearly $10,000. Publicity about that sale apparently prompted other owners of similar 1830 editions of the Book of Mormon to scan their bookshelves, leading to two more auctions since then.
"People say, 'Let's pay the mortgage off,"' Witmer said about the owners' decision to sell the books. As for the buyers, according to AuctionPublicity.com, "The cornerstone of the Mormon religion, the 588-page text has soared in value over the last several years as collectors vie for the increasingly scarce work."
A 1997 Sotheby's auction brought $32,200 for a first edition Book of Mormon.
A March 2007 auction of an 1830 edition brought $180,000, the highest amount yet. It was signed by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apostle Orson Pratt, with an inscription noting that the book had been given to its first owner by Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith's brother.
Wednesday's auction of the Book of Mormon will take place at noon Eastern time, following an estate sale that includes items ranging from Civil War bayonets to an antique Buddy L school bus and an 1840 cast iron parlor stove.
The auction also will include two letters written by LDS Church President Heber J. Grant in 1932, correspondences that provide a touching glimpse into his life and times.
The letters, both on LDS Church stationery, are written to the chairman of the National Employment Commission during the height of the Depression. In response to an appeal for donations to the commission, designed to provide jobs, President Grant's letter said, "I am supposed to be a wealthy man and drawing an immense salary, neither of which is true."
