SLOANS & KENYON TO AUCTION EXTRAORDINARY SELECTION OF ECLECTIC AMERICANA NOV. 5-6
Sept. 7, 2005
Metropolitan Washington, DC-based Sloans & Kenyon Auctioneers and Appraisers is delighted to offer at auction in November one of the most exciting and impressive selections of Americana, Washingtoniana and unusual memorabilia and collectibles ever presented for sale in the area. LiveAuctioneers.com will enable live Internet bidding from anywhere in the world during the sale.
A highlight of the November 5th and 6th auction is the celebrated oil on canvas nude, “Phryne,” which belongs to the “Silver Owls” of the National Press Club, and will be sold to raise funds for the club’s archives project. The painting has been on loan to the Metropolitan Club of Washington since 1999. The museum-quality painting by Antonio Parreiras (Brazilian, 1860-1937), has received widespread publicity in recent years. The provocative and controversial work was appraised for nearly $100,000 during the Owls’ losing battle with journalists who deemed it inappropriate to be re-hung in the National Press Club.
Also presented for sale will be a rare, historically important jewelry box carved by Malcolm X while he was incarcerated at Charlestown ( Mass.) Prison, circa 1952. The jewelry box is accompanied by a remarkable, revealing six-page letter written by his sister, which discusses the box and dispels a number of “myths” concerning the life of Malcolm X. Other items relating to African American history include a fine Frederic Remington watercolor of “Buffalo Soldier” leader Colonel Watson.
The auction will include not only pieces with historical significance, but also items with “wow” appeal, foremost among them: the Guinness Book of Records “World’s Largest Rubber Band Ball,” weighing over 3,120 pounds! Also, a 5ft long model of the U.S. Capitol created with approximately 217,000 cultured pearls, commissioned by the Imperial Pearl Syndicate, in 1959, will be sold to benefit the United States Capitol Historical Society.
In addition to fine 18th and 19th century American, European and Asian furniture, fine and decorative art, antiques, and ethnographic objects, the auction will include signed first editions of various literary works including John F. Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage”, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Tender is the Night” (another signed copy sold in 2002 for $119,500); a George Washington Revolutionary War order written at Valley Forge; a landscape painting by President Dwight D. Eisenhower; a Civil War painting –from life – by Julian Scott depicting the Battle of Haymarket, Virginia; an original Dick Tracy cartoon; a collection of several thousand mid-20th century political cartoons; “Orange Geometrics,” a painting by the late Frank Sinatra; and an assortment of other Hollywood memorabilia.
The fully illustrated auction catalog will be available to view online at LiveAuctioneers.com around mid-October. Leave absentee bids or bid live via the Internet as the auction is taking place at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
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