RENO, Nev. (AP) – Charles B. Gillespie’s iconic California Gold Rush artwork is no longer a family secret.
Historians are hailing the obscure 49er’s extensive collection of sketches and oil paintings after a descendant decided to put it up for sale this fall.
“This is an important archive, particularly the sketches, which are charming and historically significant,” Scott Shields, chief curator of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, Calif., said in an e-mail.
For decades, the pieces were tucked away in the home of Gillespie’s great-great grandson, Dick Rogers of Bowling Green, Ohio – virtually unknown to historians and others. Now, Rogers is working with a Reno dealer, Fred Holabird, to try to sell the collection intact to a museum in hopes the public can finally have a chance to view it.