Artunderwraps

First Edition Prices, Values and Auction Results

Among Doyle's works in his own Holmes canon, this volume, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, ranks among the most interesting with its highly controversial and famous ultimate story: "The Final Problem" which features the death of our hero at the hands of his archenemy, Moriarty. This volume also went through editorial changes over the years including omitted stories and altered titles. The 1894 first edition features illustrations from Sidney Paget and publisher pictorial cloth.  This first edition also features the original "Adventure of the Cardboard Box" which was omitted from certain editions and renamed in the American editions due to content of adultery that was deemed too scandalous at the time.

We collected a sample of 17 auction results of Doyle, Arthur Conan's The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes from 2 different auction houses. The lowest overall price realized in our sample was $111 and the highest overall price realized was $4270. The overall average price was $793 and the median price realized for the book was $600. There were 3 auctions (43%) with a price realized below the low estimate, 0 auctions (0%) exceeding the high estimates, and 4 auctions (57%) within the range of the low and high estimates.