Draft:Kestenbaum & Company

Kestenbaum & Company is the first auction house in the United States to specialize in antiquarian printed books and manuscripts, with a particular focus on Hebraic texts and Judaic fine and applied arts. Kestenbaum also offers periodic sales of fine kosher wines, musical instruments, and rare silver.

To date, Kestenbaum has sold more than $65,000,000 worth of material.

History
Kestenbaum & Company was founded in New York City by Daniel Ethan Kestenbaum (born 1962) in 1996. After chairing the rare Judaica division at London-based Bloomsbury Auctions for ten years, Kestenbaum went on to found the Jerusalem branch of Swann Galleries.

Following a series of successful auctions at Swann, Kestenbaum opened his own Auction House, Kestenbaum & Company, in 1996. The firm offered its first sale of rare Judaica on November 14th, 1996 at the Doral Park Avenue Hotel in Manhattan.

Currently, Kestenbaum & Company is one of the largest niche Auction Houses in the United States, having sold over 40,000 lots at 105 auctions, totaling more than $65,000,000 in sales.

In 2013, Kestenbaum & Company was honored at a congressional luncheon held in the U.S. Capitol building, in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month. The event recognized the Company for its work in seeking to preserve historic Jewish material culture via auction sale. United States Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio lauded Kestenbaum for his commitment to the conservation of important Judaica. After 25 years of operating out of midtown Manhattan, Kestenbaum & Company moved to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in January 2020.

Jewish Museum of Prague Restitution Incident
In a collaborative effort involving Kestenbaum & Company, the Jewish Museum in Prague, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), and the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), a significant restitution endeavor was undertaken to return a rare 16th-century print to the library collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague. This effort reached its culmination during a ceremony held on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, at the Auditorium of the Education and Culture Centre of the Jewish Museum in Prague.

At the heart of this commemoration was the return of a nearly 500-year-old literary work, "Mikneh Avram-Peculium Abrae," authored by Abraham de Balmes and originally printed in Venice in 1523. This unique artifact, once belonging to the Jewish Community of Prague, had been absent from the museum's archives for an extended period.

Kestenbaum formally delivered the rare book to Leo Pavlat, Director of the Jewish Museum in Prague. This event marked a significant step in the ongoing efforts to recover and preserve Jewish cultural heritage.

Rare Silver
On December 6th, 2012, Kestenbaum & Company conducted the world’s first Jewish-related rare silver auction, which included ceremonial religious objects, decoartive Torah shields, and goblets. An 18th-century Polish parcel-gilt silver filigree spice container sold for a record $280,000, the most expensive silver piece ever sold by Kestenbaum.

Fine Musical Instruments
Kestenbaum & Company held its Inaugural Auction of Fine Musical Instruments on October 22nd, 2018. The event garnered significant attention, with a substantial audience both within the saleroom, as well as active bidding online and via telephone.

The following year, Kestenbaum more than doubled its auction sales. Highlights included Eugene Sartory's silver-mounted violin bow ($16,000), Charles Pecatte's silver-mounted violin bow, ($13,000), Albert Caressa's 1924 French violin decorated in gold leaf ($11,000), and Giuseppe Tarantino's 1922 Neapolitan violin ($8,000).

Fine Wine
On September 22nd, 2011, Kestenbaum & Company conducted the world’s first kosher wine auction. The lots, all vintage and kosher, included rare Capcanes, a Spanish wine made about 100 miles south of Barcelona; a 1.5 L Magnum of Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Solomon Lot 70, one of only six magnums produced, and a Carmel vintage from 1976 produced in the Golan Heights.

Notable Items
In more than 100 auctions, Kestenbaum & Company has sold some of the most significant Judaica to appear at auction sale, including:


 * The first ever printed edition of Rashi (Rabbi Solomon Yitzchaki) on the Pentateuch, including previously unknown commentary, in 1457. Sold For $390,000
 * The first ever printed edition of the Mishna, one of the most celebrated of Hebrew incunables, in 1492. Sold for $300,000
 * German-Jewish artist Moritz Oppenheim’s paintings of traditional Jewish life in Eastern Europe, one of the first to depict Jews as equal members of society. Breaking a world record for the most expensive painting sold by Oppenheim, the lot reached a hammer price of $380,000.
 * The first ever printed edition of Abraham Ibn Ezra on the Pentateuch in 1488. Sold for $200,000
 * A 1721 rare parcel-gilt silver filigree spice container from Galicia. Sold for $280,000.
 * Isidor Kaufmann’s Portrait of a Young Jewish Bride, the most well-known of all Jewish portrait artists. Sold for $230,000.
 * The first ever printed edition of Maimonides's (Moses ben Maimon) commentary to Mishnah Tractate Avos in 1584. Sold for $170,000
 * The first ever printed edition of Maimonides’s (Moses ben Maimon) Mishneh Torah (Yad Chazakah) in 1509. Sold for $127,000
 * The first ever printed edition of The Tosfos Yom-Tov (Yom Tov Lipmann Heller) in 1614. Sold for $120,000.
 * The personal Menorah of actress Marilyn Monroe. Sold for $112,000
 * The first ever printed edition of the Shulchan Aruch (The Code of Jewish Law) in 1565. Sold for $155,000.
 * The first ever printed edition of the Tanya, the magnum opus of Chabad Chasidic thought, in 1796, sold for $96,000

Noted Collections
Kestenbaum & Company has featured some of the most extensive collections of rare Judaica, including:


 * The Rare Book Room of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The auction represented only the second time in its 100-year history that the Seminary has deaccessioned duplicates from its Library.
 * The Honorary Officers of the United Synagogue’s Library of the Beth Hamidrash of the Court of the British Chief Rabbinate and its Beth Din, containing a collection of Solomon Hirschel (1762-1845) writings, England’s first formally recognized Chief Rabbi. The collection sold for $1,900,000.
 * The Library of the late Salman Schocken, noted scholar and Judaica collector. The collection sold for $819,530.
 * The Elkan Nathan Adler-Wineman Family Collection, including a leaf from the famous Gutenberg Bible. The collection sold for $3,780,00.
 * The Autographic Collection, including the very earliest recorded autograph letter by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The letter sold for for $30,000.
 * The Valmadonna Trust Library, in conjunction with the Public Authorities of the State of Israel. A complete reference and bibliographic of the library sold for $190,000.