Rare Early Catholic Mission Book Comes to Auction at Clars May 4

Apr. 28, 2008

OAKLAND, Calif—Clars Auction Gallery is pleased to offer an important and unusual Sacramental Register from the short-lived 18th century Santa Gertrudis Mission in Baja California as part of its upcoming May 4 auction. Rarely has a book recording the Christenings of an early Native American Tribe come to public auction. Internet bidding will be offered by www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

The Register, which covers Christenings between 1755-1768, is from Mission Santa Gertrudis, one of only nineteen Jesuit missions in the Baja Peninsula. Called Dolores del Norte by some historians, it was founded by the missionary Jorge Retz in 1751. The Jesuits of Santa Gertrudis ministered to the members of the Cochimi Indian tribe, for a relatively short time, from 1751 to 1768, when they were replaced by the Franciscans and Dominicans, who continued to utilize the mission until 1822. The Cochimi tribe also disappeared, primarily due to their lack of resistance to Old World diseases.

Bound in original hide, the pages document the Christenings of tribe members. Each Christening is dated and assigned a number. The title page is inscribed with the name of the mission, and the name of Pope Benedict XIV, and dated 1755. This piece of early California history bears the signatures of several Jesuit priests and was written in both Latin and Spanish.

Few of these early Baja California mission registers survive; most were lost over time, left to the elements or destroyed during Indian rebellions. Clars Auction Gallery has given the register a conservative pre-auction estimate of $15,000 - $25,000.

This register is offered as part of a larger estate auction at Clars. The sale will also feature a large collection of Californian, European and Asian fine art, furniture, and decorative items, as well as quality estate jewelry.

To preview the auction catalog, and leave absentee bids, visit www.LiveAuctioneers.com.