LawKingdon Architecture in Wichita, Kan., designed the new Big Well Museum and Visitors Center. Image courtesy Big Well Museum and Visitors Center.
GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) – The Big Well Museum & Visitors Center wrapped up its first summer, averaging 75 to 100 visitors daily, before schoolchildren recently returned to the classroom.
“To me, the summer has been exactly what I wished it to be,” said Stacy Barnes, Greensburg’s Convention and Tourism director and manager of the Big Well, near the city water tower.
The “World’s Largest Hand-Dug Well,” descending 109 feet and 32 feet in diameter was finished in 1888 and became a tourist attraction in 1937. The 2007 tornado that destroyed most of Greensburg shut down the attraction and led to the new Big Well Museum & Visitors Center that opened May 26.
Weekly, visitors from as many as 30 different states stop at the museum, according to Barnes. Foreign countries appearing in the visitor registry include Russia, Norway, Japan, Israel, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand.
“All over,” Barnes said.
“I’m so impressed with it,” said Denise Stout, Bucklin, who has visited the Big Well four times, bringing visiting children and grandchildren.
Stout admires the museum’s architecture and likes the center’s display of scenes of Greensburg.
“I grew up south of Mullinville,” Stout said, and she remembered walking down “the scary stairs” at the old site.
Claudine Cassidy, Pratt, said the new museum has “very nice steps,” but her family was “very disappointed” with the Big Well.
“It just isn’t like it used to be,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy said the steps went down only 50 feet, and she regarded the adult admission price of $8 as “kind of high.”
The old steps went down about 80 feet, Barnes said, and the old admission charge was $2.
There are three reasons, Barnes said, why visitors go down just 50 feet: Budgetary constraints; insurance; and the fire code.
Fire code limits the travel distance to an exit, Barnes said. There’s only one way up and down from the well, she said, so a second exit was not an option. The Big Well previously was grandfathered in under the old fire code, but the new construction met compliance with current codes, she explained.
“Yes, it would be great if the stairs could go farther,” Barnes said, but she likes the effect of the spiral stairs. “To me, it feels much more open and you get a much better feel of the space,” she said.
“We have had a little pushback as far as the price,” Barnes said.
A lot of people want to compare the new museum to the old one, she said, but the old site was “just the well and gift shop,” she said.
Some visitors say, “‘It’s nothing like I remembered it,’ but in a good way,” Barnes said.
“We have so much more of story to tell,” she said, and the tornado is part of that story at the center.
The old Big Well drew about 40,000 visitors yearly. Barnes considers it too early to predict the new site’s numbers for the year, but it should be on track or better.
Visitors include those who remember the old site; those who have heard about the Greensburg tornado; and still others who “happen upon us and have no idea we had a tornado here,” Barnes said.
When they learn about the twister, Barnes said, they say, “‘Oh yes, you’re that town.’”
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-09-05-12 1452GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
LawKingdon Architecture in Wichita, Kan., designed the new Big Well Museum and Visitors Center. Image courtesy Big Well Museum and Visitors Center.Greensburg, Kan., 12 days after it was hit by an F5 tornado with 200 mph winds on May 4, 2007. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.The interior of museum chronicles the history of the Big Well, which was dug to provide water for the Santa Fe and Rock Island railroads in 1887. Image courtesy Big Well Museum and Visitors Center.
The reverse of MacMonnies’ Charles Lindbergh medal depicts an allegory of the Lone Eagle battling against the elements and the specter of death. Blue Moon Coins image. VANCOUVER, Wash. – Blue Moon Coins will conduct their monthly live and online auction on Tuesday, Sept. 18, beginning at 10 a.m. PDT. In addition to the usual lots of certified gold and silver coins, bullion coins, junk silver and its flagship custom-built NGC MS 70 Early Releases Anniversary collection of American Silver Eagles, this month Blue Moon Coins presents a rare collection of 87 .999 pure silver medals.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Established in 1930 to promote metallic arts, the Society of Medalists annually commissioned prominent sculptors to create medals that were then cast in bronze and, later, silver. The series represents an artistic tapestry of the currents of thought in mythology, religion, philosophy, the sciences, art, literature, world cultures, nature and current events, throughout the decades of the 20th century.
Blue Moon Coins has 87 of the .999 pure silver medals issued from 1930 to 1995, including an additional Bicentennial medal. Three of the medallions are highlighted here.
– Lot 168: Charles Lindbergh & Spirit of Lone Eagle (1932). Frederick MacMonnies
(1863-1937) was an American expatriate sculptor who studied under Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the designer of the $20 double eagle gold coin and the $10 Indian head gold coin. Known for his sculpture of American Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, MacMonnies fashioned the Charles Lindbergh medal, fourth in the Society of Medalists series. MacMonnies writes of this medal: “In the head of Lindbergh I have tried to catch something of the inner belief and nobility of vision of the boy, together with the experience of the master airman.”
– Lot 160: Genesis & Web of Destiny (1949). Adolph Weinman insisted he was an architectural sculptor, despite being best known for his numismatic designs of the walking Liberty half dollar (which is now used as the obverse of the 1-ounce American silver eagle) and the Mercury dime. Characterized by a lyrical, neo-classical style, his pieces sit in such prominent places as the pediments of the Jefferson Memorial and the National Archives Building, both in Washington, D.C.; the Missouri State Capitol; and the new subterranean Pennsylvania Station in New York City where many of his pieces sat until the old station was razed in 1966.
– Lot 195: “The Races of Man” (1955). Malvina Hoffman’s lifework is a series of 105 sculptures titled “The Races of Man,” which she began in 1930. Depicting various settings of human people groups as individuals and family units, her series graced the halls of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago where she worked for many years. With entry no. 51, Hoffman created a tribute to John Donne’s poem about universal brotherhood, titled, No Man Is an Island from which the famous “For whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee” line derives.
Also highlighted in the auction will be lot 2, a customized 25th anniversary set of MS 70 American silver eagles. In 2011, the U.S. Mint produced a 25th Anniversary American silver eagle coin set. With a limit of five sets per household and at $299 per set, only 100,000 sets entered circulation tremendous demand was created. The sets sold out in four hours. What Blue Moon Coins is offering in the auction is an affordable alternative to the original set.
The winning bidder of these lots will receive: one genuine actual box that the original sets were delivered in; the original 25th anniversary paperwork explaining what coins were in that original mint set; and five genuine U.S. Mint .9999 pure 1-ounce silver coins, guaranteed and certified by NGC as MS 70 Early Releases 25th Anniversary 2011 American silver eagles.
For details phone 888-553-2646 or 888-655-2646 or email ken@bluemooncoins.com or aaron@bluemooncoins.com.
The reverse of MacMonnies’ Charles Lindbergh medal depicts an allegory of the Lone Eagle battling against the elements and the specter of death. Blue Moon Coins image.
Blue Moon Coins’ customized 25th anniversary set of MS 70 American silver eagles. Blue Moon Coins image.
Adolph Weinman was commissioned to create the 1949 (lot 39) medal that depicts Genesis on its obverse and the Web of Destiny on its reverse. Blue Moon Coins image.
Malvina Hoffman’s ‘The Races of Man’ medal, released in 1955. Blue Moon Coins image.
The The Rev. Albert Wagner (1924 – 2006) ‘Moses and the Ten Commandments,’ mixed media including acrylic paint, ink, oil stick, and graphite. Gray’s Auctioneers image.
CLEVELAND – Gray’s Auctioneers will sell more than 800 works from the self-taught, Cleveland-based artist, the Rev. Albert Wagner (1924-2006) on Thursday, Sept. 20, beginning at 11 a.m. EDT. Gray’s 60th auction will consist solely of this artist’s vast and emotive collection of vibrant paintings and unique sculptures.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
The wide range of work presented in the sale portrays the reverend’s colorful life story along with his unique perspective on the world around him.
Born in the Deep South, Wagner came to Cleveland as an ambitious young man in search of opportunity. Despite his success as an entrepreneur and family man, Wagner’s life took a wayward path as he succumbed to infidelity, alcoholism, drug use and eventually, crime. In jeopardy of losing his livelihood and damaging his familial relationships, on the eve of his 50th birthday Wagner experienced a spiritual revelation through art. He gave up his destructive habits and became ordained as a Christian minister, henceforth creating art as the Rev. Albert Wagner.
As an outsider artist, Wagner set himself apart in artistic circles with a strong focus on spiritual themes and the African-American experience. His revelatory insights are expressed with bold and colorful liveliness that is both beautiful and obscure, and yet controversial all at once. Featured in the award-winning 2008 biographical documentary, One Bad Cat, and in the artist-perspective publication, Water Boy, his work has also been heralded in the New York Times, Life magazine, and by the Folk Art Society of America. Wagner’s works are on display at the American Visionary Art Museum and in several prominent private collections.
Kicking off the Rev. Wagner estate sale will be Moses and the Ten Commandments (Lot 1), a huge painting on plywood that is one of the earliest and most important works of the artist’s career. The subject matter – the commandments that are the basis of both Judaic and Christian faith – relates to the artist’s profound discovery of both God and art.
Another large-scale painting featured in the sale is Geronimo (Lot 43). Wagner had profound regard for Chief Geronimo of the Apache tribe – one of the last Native American chiefs to fall in America’s drive toward manifest destiny – regarding him as a true leader who was willing to fight for his people in the face of adversity. This work hangs in Gray’s gallery at the center of a collection of paintings depicting Native American and African tribal leaders. Wagner felt a deep resonance between the black and Native American communities and sought to compel both groups to look positively on America’s future, supporting each other through shared experience.
According to the artist’s daughter, Bonita Wagner Johnson, such a positive interpretation of her father’s work is key to understanding his intention. Themes of love, friendship, family and loyalty permeate the collection, whether they be derived through Old Testament teaching or a modern-day depiction of casual encounters between friends. The Zanoos (Lot 106) is an exceptional example of the latter category. Aesthetically it demonstrates the Wagner’s command of bold line and color, but perhaps even more notable is its thematic significance as a representation of family and redemption as indicated by the crosses worn around the parents’ necks, a symbolic motif that can be found repeated again and again throughout Wagner’s body of work. The painting demonstrates the methods in which Wagner’s art and ministry are intertwined.
In addition to these significant paintings, a number of important, monumental sculptures are also featured in the sale. City Beneath the Sea (Lot 249) is unanimously regarded as Wagner’s greatest sculptural masterpiece. Each one of the hundreds of objects that comprise the work was a gift given to Wagner by visitors to his house museum and church. These small tributes are the lasting evidence of all the lives touched by Wagner’s ministry and his art.
The Rev. Wagner believed that art should never be forgotten, with this sculpture serving as the ultimate monument to his memory. The piece entitled It Is Finished (Lot 254) is a striking, large-scale crucifix that has been dramatically hung in the lobby of Gray’s showroom, greeting visitors as they enter the exhibition. The title of the work commemorates the last words Jesus spoke before dying on the cross, while bold strokes of red paint throughout are meant to indicate Christ’s suffering. Rounding out the auction will be the very last sculpture Wagner ever constructed, a stunning assemblage called Dwelling in the Secret Place of the Most High (Lot 318). Built by the artist when he was elderly and in ill health, the work’s altar-like design makes it an appropriate tribute to his entire artistic and ministerial career.
This captivating collection of art will be auctioned in Gray’s auction showroom. Condition reports and shipping quotes are available upon request. For more information, please contact Serena Harragin at 216-458-7695 or by email at serena@graysauctioneers.com.
The The Rev. Albert Wagner (1924 – 2006) ‘Moses and the Ten Commandments,’ mixed media including acrylic paint, ink, oil stick, and graphite. Gray’s Auctioneers image.
‘Adam and Eve,’ mixed media including acrylic paint, ink, oil stick, and graphite. Gray’s Auctioneers image.
‘Geronimo,’ Mixed media including acrylic paint, ink, oil stick, and graphite. Gray’s Auctioneers image.
‘Hush Your Mouth Baby,’ Mixed media including acrylic paint, ink, oil stick, and graphite. Gray’s Auctioneers image.
‘The Zanoos,’ Mixed media including acrylic paint, ink, oil stick, and graphite. Gray’s Auctioneers image.
‘Jus Git Wit This,’ mixed media including acrylic paint, ink, oil stick, and graphite. Gray’s Auctioneers image.
Sofia Maldonado contributed the vibrant cloud piece. The Puerto Rico native’s work tends toward the amazingly colorful and slightly abstract, sometimes incorporating images from nature or curvaceous women. Mural by Sofia Maldonado, Williamsburg. Photo by Kelsey Savage.
NEW YORK – Some incredible murals went up this summer on a commercial building along North 10 Street in Williamsburg. Brooklyn-based artist Gilf collaborated with the Rappaport Sons Bottle Co., which owns the buiding.
It’s great to see a local company partnering with incredible artists to dress up their building, which is situated on a rather grimy street with nothing much to otherwise distinguish it.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Sofia Maldonado contributed the vibrant cloud piece. The Puerto Rico native’s work tends toward the amazingly colorful and slightly abstract, sometimes incorporating images from nature or curvaceous women. Mural by Sofia Maldonado, Williamsburg. Photo by Kelsey Savage.Icy and Sot come from Iran and have been stenciling professionally since 2008. The two brothers concentrate their art, like ‘Dream,’ around peace, war, love, hate, hope, despair, children, human rights and emphasize Iranian culture. Mural by Icy and Scot, Williamsburg. Photo by Kelsey Savage.The masterful stork with a mischievous eye and a fishing lure tucked in his bill is by H. Veng Smith, one of the members of street artist-collaborators Robots Will Kill. His oil painting clearly translates to his graffiti with its incredibly rich details. Mural by Veng, Williamsburg. Photo by Kelsey Savage.Jersey boys Joe Lurato and LNY created this fantastical, mythological combination wheat pasting. Mural by Joe Lurato and LNY, Williamsburg. Photo by Kelsey Savage.The elegantly executed woman at the end of the street is by Cake, whose wheat-pastings also appear on Bowery at Third Street. Mural by Cake, Williamsburg. Photo by Kelsey Savage.
Pair of 36-inch Chinese vases wrapped with three-dimensional dragons. TAC Auctions image. WAKEFIELD, Mass. – Fine and decorative art from the living estate of two Boston-area physicians will team with photographic collectibles and Western Americana from the estate of the late photographer and world traveler William “Wild Bill” Melton at Tonya A. Cameron’s (TAC Auctions) Thursday, Sept. 20 sale. Cameron said the 350-lot auction contains not only quality furnishings and art from the Boston residence of two distinguished doctors who are husband and wife but also “many fun things – in particular from the Melton estate – that you just don’t see at auction.” Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.com.
A wealth of 19th/early 20th-century Asian, fine and decorative art; silver, rugs, furniture, art glass and both fine and costume jewelry was sourced from the living estate. Asian offerings include Emperor and Wife figurines, a mystery ball, reclining nudes, a carved ivory dagger and an opium pipe. Additionally, there are jade amulets and other jade items, including desirable snuff bottles.
The art-glass section features Tiffany & Co. paperweights, a covered jar, center bowls and candlesticks. French Lalique entries include an eagle sculpture and several large vases.
Cameron said the furniture selection will appeal to many, as it includes traditional New England-style, Asian and mid-century modern pieces. The Asian grouping is led by two pairs of Chinese huanghuali chairs and a Chinese lacquered-ebony, pagoda-shape two-door cabinet with glass panels and interior lighting. It measures 47 inches high by 42 inches wide. “This cabinet is one of the best I’ve seen,” Cameron noted.
Other Chinese furniture lots include a high-end apothecary chest with brass mounts, and a carved side table with rouge inlay. The table has two seals – one made of white jade and the other of dark green jade shaped as a foo dog.
Those who appreciate the timeless quality of traditional furniture design will find many items from which to choose, including numerous pieces of Eldred Wheeler hand-carved, handcrafted tiger maple and cherry furniture from a Cape Cod estate. Among the consigned goods are a Nantucket tea table, porringer and tilt-top tables; a Queen Anne breakfast table and other items.
American furniture highlights continue with a Henkel Harris (Va.) breakfront with banded inlay and a Baker custom-made dining suite with banded-inlay table and four leaves that increase the table’s length to banquet size. The elegant ensemble, which is from the doctors’ residence, also includes two captain’s chairs and 12 side chairs with original ivory silk-blend upholstery. A nicely patinated barley-twist oak lectern with cast-iron hairy paw feet is another interesting addition to the sale.
A bountiful selection of Asian decorative art includes Oriental porcelain ginger jars, famille rose vases and a pair of beautiful 36-inch-high Chinese vases on pedestals with a dragon embellishment. Cameron described the vases as “very ornate and vibrant, with lavender, pink and green flora on a white ground.” The Asian lineup displays its variety with offerings that range from 19th-century Chinese jade cups, a bronze bell and warrior figure on mahogany base to cloisonné chargers, incense burners, brush pots, woodblocks and trays. A very scarce Asian primitive in the sale is a hand-cut rosewood and bronze carrying pole or shoulder pole used for transporting water, grain or other commodities.
Fine art to be auctioned includes a signed, original Francisco de Goya (Spanish, 1746-1828) etching, 20¼ by 18 inches (framed), titled “The Shame-faced One; an oil-on-board landscape attributed to David Burliuk (Ukranian, 1882-1967), and a pencil-signed 16 by 12-inch (framed) Max Ernst (German, 1891-1976) lithograph titled “Creatures of the Sea.” A Pierre-Joseph Redouté (French, 1817-1824) oil-on-canvas still-life composition of fruit measures 14½ by 19 inches (sight).
A mid-century Murano glass artwork standing 2ft tall on a metal base is signed by Venetian glass master Pino Signoretto (Italian, b. 1944-). Other European highlights include 4-5 period Art Deco figurines by Hutschenreuther.
A number of black-and-white photographs by Ken Miller are part of the estate of William Earl “Wild Bill” Melton (1953-2006). Louisiana born, Melton was, himself, a highly successful commercial photographer and maintained studios in New York and Manchester, N.H., until his death at age 53 in a traffic accident. Among the memorable ad campaigns he helped create was the long-running Schweppes series featuring monkeys and leopards.
“Mr. Melton was an international traveler who was beloved in his adopted New Hampshire community. He gave very generously of his talents as a photographer and gourmet chef to benefit numerous charities. He was also a colorful figure known for his dashing Western attire.” The auction is a testament to Melton’s style and includes eight pairs of cowboy boots, including examples made from snake and lizard skin; a superbly hand-tooled saddle and lariat, chaps, spurs and tooled-leather saddlebags. Coming from Melton’s residence are numerous Western decorative articles: steer skulls, a Native-American fringed suede dress, early skis and poles; a Native headdress and polychrome-painted masks. The Melton estate offering also includes vintage cameras.
The Sept. 20 auction boasts a variety of other sought-after items, including carved walking sticks, a Yamaha acoustic guitar and approximately one dozen early African carved-wood masks. A collection of tinplate wind-up toys includes a Honeymoon Express, Lincoln Tunnel, 1950s fire truck with aerial ladder, Fred Flintstone and Dino; a Skeleton in Coffin coin bank and many other collector favorites.
Tonya A. Cameron’s auction featuring the living estate of two Boston-area physicians and the estate of William “Wild Bill” Melton will take place on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, at the company’s gallery at 37 Water St. (ground floor), Wakefield, MA 01880, commencing at 6 p.m. Eastern time. Preview on auction day from 12-5:45 p.m.
For additional information, call 781-233-0006 or e-mail info@tacauctioneers.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Pair of 36-inch Chinese vases wrapped with three-dimensional dragons. TAC Auctions image.
Baker custom-crafted dining suite with banded-inlay table, four leaves, two captain’s chairs and 12 side chairs with original ivory silk-blend upholstery. TAC Auctions image.
One of two pairs of Chinese huanghuali chairs to be auctioned. TAC Auctions image.
Pino Signoretto (Italian, b. 1944-), signed Murano glass artwork on metal stand, ht. 24 inches. TAC Auctions image.
Pierre-Joseph Redouté (French, 1817-1824) oil-on-canvas still-life composition of fruit, 14½ by 19 inches (sight). TAC Auctions image.
Large Chinese flare-neck vase profusely decorated in cobalt blue and orange motif on white ground. TAC Auctions image.
A second pair of huanghuali chairs flank one of several Eldred Wheeler tables to be offered. TAC Auctions image.
The auction includes a selection of French Lalique. TAC Auctions image.
Ken Miller photo from the collection of the late William “Wild Bill” Melton. TAC Auctions image.
One of several steer heads from the collection of the late William “Wild Bill” Melton. TAC Auctions image.
Schafer and Vater, a German company, made this musical decanter to joke about Prohibition. A perfect example would sell for over $300. This 11-inch decanter was sold by Uniques & Antiques of Aston, Pa., a few years ago.
Put some fun into your collections and start hunting for old or new figurines, plates and drinking mugs that were meant to be jokes. Puzzle mugs date back to the 1700s. They were popular in taverns. When a patron was tipsy, the bartender poured ale into a mug that hid a realistic pottery frog at the bottom. Empty the mug and the frog appeared while other patrons laughed.
In the early 1800s, Chinese export porcelains were sometimes decorated with humorous or off-color subjects. One famous design is a scene of a young woman wearing a full skirt and sitting on a swing. The man next to her appears to be pushing the swing. But on the back of the plate you can see the back of the woman. Her skirt is pushed up to show her bare backside. The design was so popular that the same scene was made into a molded iron ashtray 100 years later.
Many of these jokes were connected to drinking and bars. In the 1920s, when Prohibition was the law, dozens of small bottles and flasks were made by Schafer and Vater, a German company. They were satirical, funny and risque. A disheveled drunk labeled “Prohibition,” an Uncle Sam figure holding a martini glass, a decanter shaped like a monk pouring a drink with the inscription “Spiritually Uplifting” and many other figural bottles that held whiskey were given as gifts for birthdays and holidays.
Twentieth-century joke ceramics range from dime-store “potty figures” of children sitting on potties to George Tinworth’s Royal Doulton figurines of animals acting like humans and English Martinware fantasy birds with removable heads.
Twenty-first-century jokes are easy to find and include Disney and comic-book characters. Many of the fun pieces made before 2000 now sell for high prices. But don’t ignore joke ceramics of today. They may turn out to be valuable in 50 years.
Q: I own a 24-inch-high tiger maple dresser I found in my parents’ attic. In a drawer I found a stamped mark that says, “Widdicomb Company.” On the back of the drawer someone wrote: “Trimmed July 8, 1911, Inspected August 14, 1911, Varnished August 23, 1911, Polished February 2, 1912, and Inspected February 29, 1912.” Any information would be appreciated.
A: John Widdicomb founded his company in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1897. The company’s early work focused on interior woodwork and fireplace mantels, but it soon switched to mid-priced bedroom suites and kitchen cabinets. During the 1910s and ’20s, Widdicomb Co. made bedroom suites with matching and contrasting veneers. It continued to make furniture until 2002, when the factory in Grand Rapids closed. L. & J.G. Stickley Co. purchased the company’s remaining assets, and it continues to make Widdicomb reproductions at its factory in Manlius, N.Y. The writing on your dresser shows the steps and dates of its construction. Your dresser is a part of a bedroom suite sold in 1912. A seven-piece Widdicomb tiger maple bedroom suite recently sold for $750 at auction.
Q: We own a royal commemorative creamer and sugar that my grandparents brought to this country from Scotland in the early 1900s. We think it’s from the wedding of King Edward VII to Queen Alexandra. Both pieces are cream-colored with multicolor portraits of the king and queen. The rims are gold and wavy. Neither piece is marked. What is the set worth?
A: Queen Victoria’s oldest son, Albert “Bertie” Edward (1841-1910), was married to Denmark’s Princess Alexandra in 1863. But he didn’t become King Edward VII until Queen Victoria died in 1901. Your creamer and sugar commemorate the king’s 1901 coronation, not his 1863 wedding. If your set is in excellent condition, it could sell for about $125 to $150. It would sell for more in England than in the United States.
Q: My wife and I own a 20-inch-high kerosene lamp. The globe and mantle are made of glass, and the base is brass, copper and pewter. The handles are pewter dragons, and the base is decorated with fanciful pewter birds. The lamp is stamped, “Consolidated, Pat. Sept. 990 Apr 30 05 April 11 93.” Value?
A: The stamp indicates that your lamp was made by Consolidated Lamp and Glass Co. of Fostoria, Ohio. The company resulted from a merger of Wallace and McAfee Co. of Pittsburgh and Fostoria Shade and Lamp Co. of Fostoria. Consolidated had a reputation for making fine lamps and other lighting products. The company moved its operations to Coraopolis, Pa., after a fire badly damaged the Ohio factory. Collectors are particularly interested in Consolidated glass made after 1925, when its designers moved toward Art Deco and Lalique-inspired designs. The company temporarily closed during the Depression and closed for good in 1964. A matching pair of old Consolidated molded glass kerosene lamps recently sold for $110 at auction.
Q: Your April Fool’s Day column stated that Prince Albert tobacco, introduced in the United States in 1907, was named for the “future king of England.” But Prince Albert became King Edward VII when his mother, Queen Victoria, died in 1901.
A: Prince Albert was indeed already king when the tobacco brand was introduced here. But some tins have an added design on the front that says “Now King.”
Tip: Most ceramics can be washed with soap or detergent and water but a few things should not be. Any pieces that are repaired, damaged or have painted decorations should not be soaked in water. Wipe them with a damp cloth after testing a small area. Unglazed pieces should be dusted.
Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or email addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.
CURRENT PRICES
Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
Walt Disney School Bus dome lunch box, metal, Mickey, Jiminy, Pluto, Donald’s nephews and more peer from windows, vacuum bottle, Disney Productions, 1960s, $40.
Wheaties premium cereal bowl, milk glass, red silhouettes of Joe DiMaggio batting, Bob Feller pitching, other sports stars golfing and playing tennis, 1930s, $45.
Brass gasoline-pump nozzle, working lever, made by Buckeye, dated 1926, 7 x 15 inches, $175.
Old Soldier Tobacco pail, paper label over tin, Union Civil War soldier holding rifle, tan ground, Goodrich & Co., Milwaukee, 6 x 5 1/2 inches, $185.
Phoenix Glass Co. vase, Wild Rose pattern, blooms and buds, coral pink wash over satin glass, 1933-36, 10 1/2 inches, $250.
“Honey” baby doll, composition, molded blond hair, gray sleep eyes, chubby arms and legs, sheer pink dotted Swiss dress, bonnet, Acme Toy Co., circa 1928, 26 inches, $295.
Beatles “New Sound” toy guitar, plastic, cream and orange with four original strings, butterfly pegs, silkscreen image four Beatles, Selcol Industries, England, 1964, 23 inches, $495.
World War II poster, “Defend Your Country, Enlist Now,” Uncle Sam has thrown down his coat and top hat, rolling up his sleeves, 38 x 25 inches, $510.
Victorian worktable, walnut, locking drawer, sliding sewing basket, porcelain casters, signed G.E. Fuller, circa 1870, 24 x 16 x 24 inches, $1,495.
New! Contemporary, modern and mid-century ceramics made since 1950 are among the hottest collectibles today. Our special report, “Kovels’ Buyers’ Guide to Modern Ceramics: Mid-Century to Contemporary” identifies important pottery by American and European makers. Includes more than 65 factories and 70 studio artists, each with a mark and dates. Works by major makers including Claude Conover, Guido Gambone, Lucie Rie, as well as potteries like Gustavsberg, Metlox and Sascha Brastoff, are shown in color photos. Find the “sleepers” at house sales and flea markets. Special Report, 2010, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, 64 pp. Available only from Kovels. Order by phone at 800-303-1996; online at Kovels.com; or send $19.95 plus $4.95 postage and handling to Kovels, P.O. Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.
3012 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Schafer and Vater, a German company, made this musical decanter to joke about Prohibition. A perfect example would sell for over $300. This 11-inch decanter was sold by Uniques & Antiques of Aston, Pa., a few years ago.
Obverse and reverse views of 1933 double eagle $20 gold coin. United States Secret Service image.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A Philadelphia family plans to appeal the 2004 seizure of 10 rare gold coins a jury said couldn’t have been legally obtained.
The attorney for Joan Langbord and two of her sons says Monday the family wants its case heard by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The government seized ten rare $20 “double eagles” from the family after Joan Langbord said she found them in a safe deposit box once owned by her father, Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt.
Langbord took the coins to the Philadelphia Mint so they could be inspected and authenticated. The coins, which are worth millions, were then seized by the government without any compensation being paid to the family.
Last year, a jury agreed with the government’s claim the seizure was lawful because the coins had never been circulated and must therefore have been stolen.
Trial judge Legrome Davis last month agreed the coins belong to the government, no matter how they were acquired.
The saga behind the rare gold double eagles is a convoluted one.
Following a 1933 order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Gold Reserve Act was effected. It outlawed the circulation and private possession of United States gold coins for general circulation, with an exemption for collector coins. This act declared that gold coins were no longer legal tender in the United States, and people had to turn in their gold coins for other forms of currency. The 1933 gold double eagles were struck after this executive order, but because they were no longer legal tender, most of the 1933 gold coins were melted down in late 1934 and some were destroyed in tests.
Two of the $20 double eagles were presented by the United States Mint to the U.S. National Numismatic Collection, and they were recently on display in the “Money and Medals Hall” on the third floor of the National Museum of American History. These two particular coins should have been the only 1933 double eagle coins in existence. However, unknown to the Mint, a number of the coins (20 have been recovered so far) were stolen, possibly by the U.S. Mint Cashier, and made their way, via Israel Switt, into the hands of collectors. The coins circulated among collectors for several years before the Secret Service became aware of their existence. The matter was brought to the attention of Mint officials in 1944 by an investigative reporter who was researching the history of two coins he had spotted in a Stack’s Bowers coin auction catalog. Prior to the launch of an official Secret Service investigation, a Texas dealer resold one of the coins he had purchased from the auction. It left the country.
During the first year of the investigation, seven coins were seized or voluntarily turned in to the Secret Service and were subsequently destroyed at the mint; an eighth coin was recovered the following year and met the same fate. In 1945, the investigation identified the alleged thief. It also confirmed that Switt had sold nine (located) coins, although Switt couldn’t recall how he obtained them. The Justice Department wanted to prosecute both the thief and Switt, but the statute of limitations had passed.
The missing tenth double eagle was acquired by King Farouk of Egypt, who was a voracious collector of many things, including Imperial Fabergé eggs, antique aspirin bottles, paperweights, postage stamps—and coins, of which he had a collection of over 8,500. In 1944, Farouk purchased a 1933 double eagle, and in strict adherence with the law, his ministers applied to the United States Treasury Department for an export license for the coin. Mistakenly, just days before the Mint theft was discovered, the license was granted. The Treasury Department attempted to work through diplomatic channels to request the return of the coin from Egypt, but World War II delayed their efforts for several years. In 1952 King Farouk was deposed in a coup d’etat, and many of his possessions were made available for public auction (run by Sotheby’s) – including the double eagle coin. The United States Government requested the return of the coin, and the Egyptian government stated that it would comply with the request. However, at that time the coin disappeared and was not seen again in Egypt.
In 1996, a double eagle surfaced again after more than 40 years of obscurity, when British coin dealer Stephen Fenton was arrested by US Secret Service agents during a sting operation at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Although he initially told investigators he bought the coin over the counter at his shop, Fenton later changed his story. Under sworn testimony, he insisted the double eagle had come from the collection of King Farouk, although this could not be verified. Charges against Fenton were subsequently dropped, and he defended his ownership of the coin in court. The case was settled in 2001 when it was agreed that ownership of the double eagle would revert to the United States Government, and the coin could then legally be sold at auction. The United States Treasury issued a document to “issue and monetize” the coin, thereby making it a legal-tender gold coin in the United States.
When the coin was seized, it was transferred to a holding place believed to be safe: the Treasury vaults of the World Trade Center. When the court settlement was reached in July 2001, only two months before the Trade Center was destroyed, the coin was transferred to Fort Knox for safekeeping.
On July 30, 2002, the 1933 double eagle was sold to an anonymous bidder at a Sotheby’s auction in New York for $6.6 million, plus a 15 percent buyer’s premium, and an additional $20 needed to “monetize” the face value of the coin so it would become legal currency. This brought the final sale price to $7,590,020, almost twice the previous record for a coin. Half the bid price was to be delivered to the United States Treasury, plus the $20 to monetize the coin, while Stephen Fenton was entitled to the other half.
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Auction Central News International contributed to this report, with thanks to Wikipedia for substantial historical information sourced through their website.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Buddy Holly would have been 76 last Friday. Image courtesy LiveAuctioners.com Archive and Heritage Auctions.
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) – Every day starts the same, Larry Kmetz says.
He wakes up, and the itch is there.
“My eyelids open,” the 69-year-old said, motioning across his eyes to mime the act of waking with a purpose. “And it’s another day to look for records.”
After a steaming cup of coffee, he hits the usual circuit of thrift stores. St. Vincent de Paul, Goodwill, Women’s Center, where he whispers to staff the usual question.
“Any new records?”
And they usher him to the newest intake.
In between, he plows through private collections, belonging to folks who respond to his Nickel’s Worth ad pleading for 45s.
Then there are Saturdays, when folks see him pedaling his bike down Sherman Avenue to inspect every yard sale.
“A guy at one of these sales asked me, ‘How are you going to fit a couch on your bike?’” Larry said. “And I said, ‘I’m not here for a couch. I only shop for music.’”
You could say that’s why he’s here on the planet, really. To shop for music.
Larry and Polly Kmetz’s Coeur d’Alene home has several rooms devoted to his obsession.
Since getting serious about it in his 20s, Larry has accumulated 20,000, maybe 30,000 records, he guesses off the cuff.
There’s really no reason to count, though, as the slick, fragile discs are regularly traded or sold. Maybe for something better, something rarer, or that falls into the categories that Larry’s musical taste holds as sacrosanct: Rhythm and blues and rockabilly, from the ’50s and ’60s.
“I buy collections constantly,” he said, adding that he also tracks down beloved records for other music aficionados for free. “I can’t keep everything, or I’d have to have 50 houses.”
Sure, people buy his records. Especially at the massive music collector shows in Seattle, where the retired businessman boasted he can spend six hours talking music, draining everything from the encyclopedic knowledge he’s absorbed from stacks of music books.
“This is not a dead issue by any stretch of the imagination,” said Larry, who still DJs, and talks of the days he owned a record store with Polly in Los Angeles. “It’s a dead issue with the public, yes. But if you go to these records shows, people come from all over the world to buy this type of material.”
The Collection
He has plenty to share.
“This is part one,” Larry said, ushering visitors into a room on the main floor.
Barely enough room for three people, shelves filled the room, each packed with slender 45s, LPs, 78s.
Downstairs was the room of record stacks still to be sorted, a chore he said “never ends.” Across from that, another room was piled with boxes for collection shows, the sides labeled “country,” “rock,” “collectibles, 1, 2, 3, 4.”
Finally came the last room, for his gems. The rare collectibles, the ones Larry wouldn’t sell for any price.
“People come over, I say, ‘Get your hands out of there,’” he said.
Terry Stanea, who works the front counter at the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, said she sees Larry trolling for records at the store almost every day, more than any other customer.
“Oh my gosh. (He’s) highly invested in finding records,” she said, adding that Larry is always eager to demonstrate his knowledge of music history. “It’s his mission in life.”
Stanea gets it, she added. She’s happy to see someone saving music from going to waste.
“I think it’s a shame the way it’s went, I really do. I’m sorry that it’s lost its place, with CDs coming out,” she said of records. “It’s really kind of sad to think we’ve let that part of history slide by so easily.”
Larry is eager to show off his favorites, which he tugs out of boxes and bubble wrap. He adores the Chess label, and its sister label Checkers. He has some of their earliest released records, featuring Gene Ammons and Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats.
He owns an original Jimmy Rogers record from the’40s in mint condition, too, the Goodwill sticker reading 99 cents.
“That’s unbelievable to find,” Larry said. “How that survived in a thrift shop I’ll never know.”
He has stories about them all, about disputes between artists and labels, about their roles in rock ’n’ roll’s evolution. He speaks with televangelist gusto, waving his arms, snapping his fingers, his eyes wide behind his thick-rimmed glasses.
“I’m a walking encyclopedia on this stuff,” he said. “I was born on a 45 rpm record. I always tell people that.”
He can retrieve any detail about a record from his memory, Polly added.
“He amazes me with his remembrance of labels, songs,” said Polly, a loyal fan of both rockabilly and her husband’s collection. “His mind is amazing.”
Sometimes Larry spends up to $500 a month on records, though what he pays depends on quality, era and style.
When asked what his best records are worth, he looked offended.
“I don’t know,” he said, reboxing his gems. “Money don’t mean nothin’ to me.”
Part of the Past
See rhythm and blues, rockabilly, that’s the soundtrack of Larry’s youth. His life.
Muddy Waters, Fats Domino, B.B. King, he talks of them more as if they were his mentors than just entertainers from his childhood, when he took in live shows during the birth of rock ’n’ roll.
The music reached him then, he said, transformed him. And the effect is no different now.
“It just grooved me,” Larry said on Wednesday. “I’m going to be 70 in a week. I still love it as much today as when I first started.”
Does he have time to listen to all his records?
“No,” he said, then held up a 45, the Checkers label a vibrant red with the title snaked across. “But hey, this logo, it’s awesome. How could you not want to collect it?”
Polly recalled the couple’s routine when they met in’68, then married in ’70. Larry would call in to work sick, and the pair would peruse tables of 45s at Thrifty stores, Polly’s two young kids sitting on the floor.
“We’ve been doing it ever since,” she said.
They love to describe their great finds. How Polly came across a rare Spit Fire record, one of six in existence, when they owned the record store. How she found a rare Samsung 78 in Memphis, Tenn., during a cross-country record-hunting trip.
Polly still helps Larry transfer records onto CDs, she said. When they have the urge, the pop in a CD and play along, her on bass guitar and him on drums, like back in the day when they played in a rockabilly band.
“He has made me part of everything. That’s what been so wonderful in our lives,” Polly said. “So much of what a husband does is in something a wife can’t get involved in, but he’s always brought me in.”
And the Future
Of course Larry will continue collecting, he said.
Not just records, but CDs, too, which he predicts will no longer be sold by 2020, totally replaced by computer downloads.
“I’ll be around for 2020,” Larry assured. “Rockers like me, we don’t die, man. We just groove away.”
Meantime, go ahead and tell Larry Kmetz that records are useless and worthless.
He just smiles.
“I would say sell me your useless and worthless records,” he said.
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Information from: Coeur d’Alene Press, http://www.cdapress.com
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-09-07-12 1826GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Buddy Holly would have been 76 last Friday. Image courtesy LiveAuctioners.com Archive and Heritage Auctions.
The only previously known adult photo of Emily Dickinson, taken circa 1846. The original is held by the Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Scholars at Amherst College in Massachusetts believe a collector may have what would be just the second known photo of poet Emily Dickinson.
The college says the collector, who wishes to remain anonymous, bought the photo in 1995 in Springfield, Mass. He brought it to the college’s archive and special collections staff in 2007, and they’ve been researching it since.
Last month, it was publicly shown during the Emily Dickinson International Society conference in Cleveland.
The daguerreotype, dated around 1859, appears to show Dickinson sitting next to a friend, Kate Scott Turner.
There’s strong evidence it’s Dickinson, including comparisons of high-resolution digital images of the newer photo with the known image, from 1847, said Mike Kelly, head of the archive and special collections department at Amherst College.
Kelly said perhaps the best evidence is an ophthalmological report that compared similarities in the eyes and facial features of the women in the photos. “I believe strongly that these are the same people,” concluded the doctor who wrote the report. Researchers are also trying to get higher resolution pictures of the dress in the picture, to see if it matches fabric samples known to belong to Dickinson.
Researchers can’t yet definitively say the photo is Dickinson, but “I think we can get beyond reasonable doubt,” Kelly said
That could shift some perceptions about the Amherst native, Kelly said. For instance, a book in the 1950s was the first to propose Dickinson had a lesbian relationship with Turner, Kelly said.
“This is photographic evidence of their friendship, whatever the nature of that friendship was,” he said.
The photo contradicts a misperception that Dickinson never left her house, when in fact she was quite social in her younger years, Kelly said. It also offers a strikingly different image from the existing photo of Dickinson as a frail, teen girl, which was taken before she began writing poetry. The newer image was taken when she was roughly 30.
“This is really when she’s coming into the height of her powers,” Kelly said. “To see her as this fully mature woman rather than this sickly little girl, I think it just shifts the way people think about what she’s writing.”
Amherst’s collections department has a copy of the daguerreotype, which it says can be viewed on request.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The only previously known adult photo of Emily Dickinson, taken circa 1846. The original is held by the Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Poster advertising Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Brian Lebel’s Old West Auction.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – The remains of a man who died young while touring the world with Buffalo Bill were hidden for more than a century in an unmarked grave some 1,700 miles from his South Dakota Indian reservation.
Now Albert Afraid of Hawk is returning home. He was reburied Sunday in accordance with Lakota tradition, thanks largely to a curious and persistent Connecticut history buff.
Bob Young uncovered records of the Oglala Sioux member’s death at a Connecticut hospital after a bout with food poisoning from eating bad corn. A few years ago, Young pieced the details together and reached out to Afraid of Hawk’s family members.
“It’s something that should have happened a long time ago, but it didn’t,” said Marlis Afraid of Hawk, 54, whose father, Daniel Afraid of Hawk, is Albert’s last living nephew. “… Nobody even questioned where he is buried or where this person is. It was left at that.”
Afraid of Hawk began traveling with Buffalo Bill’s world-famous troupe known as the Congress of Rough Riders of the World two years before he died at age 20. He was among a rotating cast that helped educate and entertain thousands of spectators eager to hear firsthand accounts of life in the American West.
Last month, Marlis Afraid of Hawk, Daniel Afraid of Hawk and other relatives traveled to Connecticut from their homes on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota to witness the disinterment of Albert’s remains.
Young, president of a museum in Danbury, Conn., had identified the location of Afraid of Hawk’s grave at a cemetery there.
“At the start it was just another research project, but each piece I came up with got me more interested,” said Young, who was working at the cemetery at the time of the discovery.
Nicholas Bellantoni, the state archeologist for Connecticut, knew the coffin would have long disintegrated, and he prepared the family for the possibility that the acidic Connecticut soil had left little behind. Bellantoni and a team of excavators gently dug a couple of feet into the ground with a backhoe. At about 41/2 feet, they began getting hits on a metal detector, signaling they were getting closer to nails that had been in the coffin.
Then, once a piece of soil dislodged, bone began to poke out. It was Albert’s skull.
“I knew right there that Albert had been preserved, at least in part, and that they would be able to bring Albert home,” Bellantoni said.
It was a breakthrough for family members, who had been searching for decades. In the 1970s they even traveled to Washington, D.C., to learn more about Afraid of Hawk’s death, returning with a picture but little information.
The team in Connecticut also recovered hair fibers, copper beads from an earring, a copper ring and six handles from Albert’s coffin. Bellantoni said he was surprised at how ornate the coffin handles were.
Now those remains are in South Dakota, where a wake and funeral were held to allow Afraid of Hawk to enter the spirit world.
He was born in 1879, the third of seven children belonging to Emil Afraid of Hawk and his wife, White Mountain. His brother Richard was among the survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. Afraid of Hawk joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in 1898 with a childhood friend from the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and he apparently sent money back to family members living on the Pine Ridge reservation while performing with the show.
Buffalo Bill, whose name was William F. Cody, regularly employed about 50 Native Americans – mostly Lakota – during the 30-year run of the show from the late 1880s to the early 1900s, said Lynn Houze, assistant curator at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming.
The shows were made up of 15 to 24 acts, including sharpshooters, races and performances depicting cowboys against Indians. The show helped catapult the American cowboy to icon status, and Cody believed he was helping to preserve the Native American culture, even if they were, at times, presented in a stereotypical manner. Cody encouraged Native American performers to retain their language, rituals and beliefs but often portrayed them as savages attacking white settlers.
“At that time with the reservation system, the government was forcing a lot of the kids to be sent to Carlisle or other Indian Schools. This way, a lot of them were able to continue to be Indian and preserve their culture,” Houze said. “He became their friend and was an advocate of theirs.”
But life in the show was difficult. Performers arrived in a new city almost daily, setting up camp before putting on one show in the afternoon and another in the evening. After that, they’d pack up and head to the next town.
Other performers – both Native Americans and non-Natives – who died during the show’s run were often buried in the city where they died, Houze said. In the late 1990s, the remains of Chief Long Wolf, also Lakota, were returned after a British woman read about his death and tracked down family members in South Dakota. Long Wolf, 52, died in 1892 of pneumonia while performing in London. He was buried in the same casket as a Lakota girl, Star, who died after falling from a horse while performing in a show.
Marlis Afraid of Hawk said she is relieved that for Albert, the long road home nearly complete.
“Now everything has come into place,” she said.
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Follow Kristi Eaton on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kristieaton
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-09-09-12 0047GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Poster advertising Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Brian Lebel’s Old West Auction.
