Feathered Angel. Estimate: $1,500-$2,500. Kimball M. Sterling Inc. image.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Kimball M Sterling Inc. will offer a fine collection of unique designer dolls by Van Craig in the May 26 Deakins Estate Auction, which will begin at 1 p.m. EDT, 10 a.m. Pacific. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
The collection of 10 dolls has been added to the auction that will disperse a local physician’s estate.
Designer, artist, sculptor and entrepreneur Van Craig is one of the best known in his field and the offerings are spectacular, said auctioneer Kimball Sterling. Craig created and designed for many companies including Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, Marshall Field and Nordstrom.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Rare South Africa 1879 Casualty Medal awarded to Trooper Francis ‘Louis’ Secretan. Dreweatts London / Baldwin’s image.
LONDON – Last year three major players in the UK fine art and collectibles industry (Apex, Baldwin’s and Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions) combined to create the UK’s newest “top 5” generalist auctioneer under the banner of Noble Investments (UK) PLC. This year will see Baldwin’s and Dreweatts holding their first joint auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria on June 5 at Dreweatts London, 24 Maddox Street. LiveAuctioneers will provide the Internet live-bidding services for the sale.
Noble Investments (UK) PLC Managing Director, Ian Goldbart, commented: “The collective efforts of, and expertise within Baldwin’s and Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions, will enable us to provide a much broader presence in this fascinating market sector. We are delighted to be holding this inaugural joint auction and look forward to offering our vendors and buyers an enlarged platform through which to buy and sell a much broader range of collectibles.”
This first auction will contain 217 lots, including the highlight of the sale, lot 6, the superb and extremely rare WWII Pathfinder’s CGM & DFM “Group of 5” awarded to Warrant Officer S J H Andrew, No 35 Squadron, No 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Warrant Officer Solomon Joseph Harold Andrew was the veteran of a staggering 89 operational sorties and 315 hours of operational flying over France and Germany between November 1943 and April 1945. He was awarded the CGM and DFM for his role as an Air Gunner “of outstanding ability,” and considered to have skill “second to none” in the Halifax and Lancaster bombers of No. 8 Group — one of only 11 suchgallantry combinations awarded, comprising: Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (Flying), G VI R (1715306 F/Sgt. S. J. H. Andrew. R.A.F.), Distinguished FlyingMedal, G VI R (1715306. F/Sgt. S. J. H. Andrew. R.A.F.), 1939-1945 Star, Air Crew Europe Star with copy “France and Germany” clasp, War Medal 1939-45; the first two officially engraved, the remainder unnamed as issued, group court-mounted on board, with reverse pin for wear. This is an extremely rare and desirable group and is estimated to sell for £12,000 – £15,000.
In addition, lot 37, a Herbert Morton Stoops (1888-1948) oil on canvas, titled Strange Meeting, Argonne 1918 is included in the sale. The picture portrays a British WWI soldier encountering a group of soldiers in a trench, only to discover they are skeletons. Previously exhibited at the King Street Galleries in 1991 as part of a third exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, presented by David Cohen Fine Art, this extraordinary painting is estimated at £2000 – £3000. The painting was used as the image on the cover of the exhibition catalogue as a representation of one of the most fertile periods in the history of British art. In the introduction to the catalog, Jenny Spencer-Smith (Head of the Department of Fine and Decorative Art – The National Army Museum, London) describes the painting as inspiring “disturbing emotions.”
Also included in the sale are a number of fascinating items including, lot 37, a rare and emotive South Africa 1879 Casualty Medal, estimated at £10,000 – £12,000; lot 153, a pair of silver-mounted flintlock pistols for presentation to a potentate, estimated at £2,000 – £3,000; and lot 175, An 1878 pattern Home Service officer’s blue cloth helmet belonging to Henry Singleton Pennel VC Derbyshire & Sherwood Foresters (1874 – 1907), estimated at £1,200 – £1,500.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Rare South Africa 1879 Casualty Medal awarded to Trooper Francis ‘Louis’ Secretan. Dreweatts London / Baldwin’s image.
Superb and rare World War II Pathfinder’s CGM & DFM group of five awarded to Warrant Officer Solomon Joseph Harold Andrew, No.35 Squadron, No.8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Dreweatts London / Baldwin’s image.
Naval General Service Medal, 1793-1840, single clasp. Dreweatts London / Baldwin’s image.
Waterloo Medal, 1815, with replacement steel clip and ring suspension (Lieut. A. E. Glynne, 1st Batt. 40th Reg. Foot). Dreweatts London / Baldwin’s image.
Pair of silver-mounted flintlock pistols for presentation to a potentate. Dreweatts London / Baldwin’s image.
Sir George Prevost 1st Baronet (19 May 1767 – 5 Jan. 1816), fine Georgian officer’s saber by Hawkes Mosely & Co., Piccadilly, London. Dreweatts London / Baldwin’s image.
Henry Singleton Pennel VC Derbyshire & Sherwood Foresters (1874 – 1907) 1878 Pattern Home Service officer’s blue cloth helmet. Dreweatts London / Baldwin’s image.
Herbert Morton Stoops (American, 1887-1948) ‘Strange Meeting,’ Argonne 1918, oil on canvas. Dreweatts London / Baldwin’s image.
Purvis Young (1943-2010), untitled (Leader of the Peoples), 1991, 52 x 100 inches. Medium: house paint on wood assemblage. Provenance: Grumbacher-Viener collection. Estimate: $50,000 – $75,000. Material Culture image.
PHILADELPHIA – Material Culture is celebrating the spirit, animation and theatricality of folk, self-taught and ethnographic arts in its May 26 auction, “Folk Out Loud.” Featuring over 300 lots, the sale will provide an exciting mix of art and artifacts from around the world, from paintings by important self-taught artists, to African tribal art, to American cigar store Indians. Objects at the auction nearly encompass the history of folk art, with pre-historic to 12th century to 21st century artifacts being presented for sale. The auction will begin promptly at 11 a.m. EDT, on Sunday, May 26. Liveauctioneers provides an online catalog and Internet live bidding at the time of the sale.
One of the highlights in self-taught art is a masterpiece by American artist Purvis Young (1943-2010). The large untitled piece known as Father of the Peoples, an assemblage with house paint on wood, dates to 1991, and is estimated to sell for $50,000 to $75,000. Measuring 52 inches by 100 inches, the painting centers on a haloed figure robed in shades of white and cream, arms stretching upwards. Expressive faces touched with hues of red, brown and white, some of them also haloed, appear around the frame. From the Overtown section of Miami, Fla., Young is famous for blending the African American experience in the south with his private study of the masters of art history in his paintings, collages and found media artwork. He began drawing as a teenager during a period spent in prison, and his move to painting was initially inspired by the mural movements of other large cities. His work, which shows the influence of Youngʼs private study of Rembrandt, El Greco, van Gogh, Gaugin and Picasso, attracted the attention of Bernard Davis, owner of the Miami Art Museum, and eventually the praise of collectors and institutions around the country. Today, his pieces appear in many museums, including the High Museum in Atlanta, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Arts in Washington, D.C., the American Folk Art Museum in Atlanta, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, amongst others.
The auction also showcases a number of other pieces by Purvis Young, including two early dated portraits (1973), which show, from the shoulders up, a haloed figure. In one, measuring 18.75 inches by 22 inches by 2 inches with the frame, the haloed figure is additionally distinguished by a beret. The other measures 19.5 inches by 21.5 inches by 2 inches, including its frame. Both are estimated to bring $8,000-$12,000. The third piece, a portrayal of five figures titled Chain gang, dates to 2000. This work of paint on found bonded industrial fabric measures 33.25 inches by 35.5 by 1.5 inches, and is estimated to sell for $1,000-$2,000.
Another highlight of the sale includes an important work by Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980), titled New Jerusalem. A preacher, missionary, musician and poet who worked in New Orleans, Sister Gertrude is now known primarily for her folk art. Brightly colored and joyous, her paintings and drawings depict religious scenes, inspired by the Book of Revelations, illustrations of her sermons, or other conceptualizations of a Biblical idea. According to the American Museum of Folk Art, which holds some of her work, her vision of a New Jerusalem is her most important theme. This painting, measuring 22 inches by 14 inches, bears many of the hallmarks of Morganʼs representation of the New Jerusalem, including multi-storied houses, flowering trees and a sky arrayed with angels of many ethnicities. Sister Morgan frequently appeared within her own work, and the figure dressed in white standing in front of the building, just to the left of center, is likely a depiction of the artist. Around 1957, Sister Morgan received a revelation that she was to become the “bride of Christ,” and thereafter she dressed only in white. Her many revelations throughout her life included one in 1974 that instructed her to move away from painting and devote herself to poetry, and in later life she produced text-only pieces. Text is frequently an integral part of her work in the decades prior, however; this painting bears an inscription in the blue and white of the sky above the building, reading “that great ship is landing,” “paradise” and “get on board.” The piece is estimated to sell for $20,000-$30,000.
Other art at the auction includes a serigraph by American artist Shepard Fairey (born 1970). A portrait of Woody Guthrie, the serigraph is dated 2010 and in a signed and numbered edition of 450, estimated to sell for $500-700. Fairey is an influential street artist, most famous for his Barack Obama “Hope” poster of the 2008 election, and his “Obey” posters featuring the face of Andre the Giant. His work appears in the collections of the Smithsonian and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, among others. A rare cameo glass vase designed by Louisiana artist George Rodrigue (born 1944) bears the artistʼs signature “Blue Dog,” a large-eared spaniel with yellow eyes. Produced by the Pilgrim Glass Co. in a limited edition—the underside is etched “XX/35”—the vase is estimated to sell for $7,000-10,000.
Sculpture at the auction includes a mixedmedia duck figure made by Leo Sewell (born 1945), an American found object artist. Sewell describes himself as a “junk sculptor,” creating representational sculpture using an assemblage of recycled materials, such as, in the case of this Duck Sculpture, scissors, belt buckles, and a toy car, among hundreds of other pieces. The sculpture is estimated to sell for $1,000-2,000.
Ethnographic art at the sale includes several pieces from the Bill Liske Collection of Antique Tibetan and Chinese Textiles and Artifacts, the harvest of three decades of Liskeʼs travel and work in the Himalayan region. Originally a mountaineer and guide, Liskeʼs natural eye for textiles was honed by textile dealers in the area. In 1998, he curated an exhibition of his work titled “From the Heart of a Continent: Carpets and Textiles of the Tibetan Realm,” in his home state of Colorado, at the History Museum in Denver. Pieces from his collection have also been shown at the Krimsa Gallery in San Francisco, the Shaver-Ramsey Gallery in Denver, and in Hali magazine. One of the most remarkable pieces from his collection to appear in this sale is a Buddhist manuscript cover dating to the 12th-13th centuries. Made of wood and bearing traces of paint, the cover features Amoghasiddhi, the last of the Five Wisdom Buddhas of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism, flanked by scrolling vines. The name “Amoghasiddhi” means “unfailing success,” and, as the Buddha of accomplishing wisdom, he is identified by the hand gesture symbolizing fearlessness. What is unique about this particular portrayal is the altered “fear not” hand position of Amoghassidhi, with the left hand, and not right hand, lifted, while the right hand is draped across the knees, not placed in the lap. This Tibetan piece is strikingly similar in size, style and composition to the Metropolitan Museum’s Budhhist Manuscript cover with Buddha Shakyamuni flanked by Manjushri and Vajrapani (accession # 1987.407.6), dated as early 12th century. It is estimated to sell for $3,000-$5,000.
A Tibetan thangka scroll painting, also depicting Amoghasiddhi, likely dates to the late 16th century, and shows the Buddha in the more commonly seen mudra, with the right hand in the “fear not” position. Backed by a field of miniature Buddhas with its original hand-loomed cotton and linen border, this 43 inch by 21 inch thangka is estimated to bring $1,500-$2,500. Leading Tibetan carpets at the sale is a temple rug or Khagangma meditation square dating to the 19th century. A red quadrant design marches across a blue-green field, with blue plied wool fringe. The rug is estimated to sell for $1,500-2,500.
Items from the Max Garb Collection of Ethnographic Arts, subject of its own auction at Material Culture on April 28, include an eccentric African power or fetish figure complete with real pelts, bones and skulls. Made by the Songye people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the figure measures 43 inches by 15 inches by 12 inches, and is estimated to bring $1,000-$2,000. African tribal art is well-represented at sale, with another outstanding collection of top-rate artifacts coming to auction from a Main Line Philadelphia estate. Of particular note is a fine helmet mask made by the Mende people of Sierra Leone. This dark, polished mask of carved wood likely dates to the early 20th century and is estimated to sell for $1,000-$2,000. Fine carving is particularly apparent below the faceʼs eyes and ornamenting the base of its crest. Another helmet mask, made by the Dogon people of Mali, employs a more raw state of its carved wood in giving the mask its character. Also dating to the early 20th century, this 16-inch by 8-inch by 8-inch mask is estimated to sell for $600-900. A wooden staff made by the Yoruba people, who predominantly live in Nigeria, represents the god Shango or Sango, known as the god of lightning, thunder and fire. Shangoʼs weapon is double-headed ax, seen at the top of the staff, and the figure below it may be a devotee of Shango struggling to maintain self-control, one possible purpose of religious rituals for the god. The staff was probably carved in the early 20th century, and, measuring 22 inches by 8 inches by 4 inches, is estimated to sell for $1,000-1,500. Other notable pieces from this collection include a wood figure carved by the Lobi people of Ghana, and, from the lower Sepik River area of New Guinea, a carved wood figure sporting cowrie shell eyes.
A significant portion of the sale consists of folk art from the United States and around the globe. Leading this category are two fine cigar store Indian statues. One is attributed to John L. Cromwell (1805-1873), who is credited as being one of the first carvers of these kinds of figures to arrive from England. Standing an impressive 87 inches tall, the statue dates to circa 1850 and shows the male figure with a hatchet raised in his right hand. Though these hand-carved statues were once frequent sights in front of 19th century cigar stores, original examples are now rare and highly collectible due to the resurgent popularity of cigars and related memorabilia. The John L. Cromwell cigar store statue is estimated to sell for $75,000-125,000. The second statue presents a variation on this form, with a cigar store Indian maiden by Thomas by Thomas V. Brooks (1826-1895), estimated to bring $50,000-80,000 at auction. Measuring 85 inches by 25 inches 25.5 inches, this brightly attired maiden holds up a set of cigars. Brooks was a student of John Cromwell; along with Samuel Anderson Robb and the Skillin family, Cromwell and Brooks are considered the most prominent cigar store Indian craftsmen of the 19th century. The folklore about cigar store Indians in the late 18th century suggests that they provided a visual marker, much like a barberʼs striped pole, for customers who were illiterate, or, in the following century, for the swelling population of immigrants that spoke different languages.
Another highlight of American folk art at the auction is a weather vane made by the Boston manufacturer Harris and Co., dating to circa 1890. A horse depicting the trotter Black Hawk made of copper with zinc ears, the weather vane has a patina of green verdigris on the surface, consistent with its age. It measures 25.5 inches by 19 inches by 1.5 inches and is valued at $3,000-5,000. Also from the George and Sue Viener collection are two face jugs by Lanier Meaders (1917-1998), both made of glazed ceramic. The face jugs at auction are each valued at $1,000-1,500.
The auction also features a panoply of folk and popular art surprises from roadsides around the world, including folk signage and hand-painted advertisements, found objects and African folk art coffins. A mid-century palmist sign made of painted wood, reading “Ora-Lee” at top, stands 96 inches high. Electrified and in full working condition, it is estimated to sell for $2,000-3,000. Another American sign advertises a “Snake Preview” of a carnival act involving “Hugh and Sue,” and is estimated to bring $400-600. An Arabic sign in the shape of a bottle-cap advertises Pepsi, likely to sell for $300-500. An African medical stand from a roadside, complete with its accoutrements, is estimated at a $400-800 value. Fantasy coffins from Ghana include those in the shape of a hammer and a beer bottle. Folk sculptures such as a mid-20th century painted wood carving of a hand holding aloft a Bible from West Africa demonstrate much of the spirit and originality of the assembly.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Purvis Young (1943-2010), untitled (Leader of the Peoples), 1991, 52 x 100 inches. Medium: house paint on wood assemblage. Provenance: Grumbacher-Viener collection. Estimate: $50,000 – $75,000. Material Culture image.
Outstanding 12th/13th century Buddhist manuscript cover with Amoghasiddhi Buddha flanked by scrolling vines. Estimate: $3,000 – $5,000. Material Culture image.
John Cromwell (1805-1873), cigar store Indian, circa 1850, 87 inches high. Provenance: George and Sue Viener collection. Estimate: $75,000 – $125,000. Material Culture image.
Felipe Jesus Consalvos (Cuban-American, 1891-1960), ‘Built – Not Stuffed,’ circa 1920-1950, mixed media collage. Estimate: $1,500 – $2,500. Material Culture image.
Sister Gertrude Morgan (American, 1900-1980), ‘New Jerusalem,’ Mixed media on paper. Estimate: $20,000 – $30,000. Material Culture image.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Danish museum officials say that an archaeological dig last year has revealed 365 items from the Viking era, including 60 rare coins.
Danish National Museum spokesman Jens Christian Moesgaard says the coins have a distinctive cross motif attributed to Norse King Harald Bluetooth, who is believed to have brought Christianity to Norway and Denmark.
Sixteen-year-old Michael Stokbro Larsen found the coins and other items with a metal detector in a field in northern Denmark.
Stokbro Larsen, who often explores with his detector, said he is often laughed at because friends find him “a bit nerdy.”
Moesgaard said Thursday that it was the first time since 1939 that so many Viking-era coins have been found, calling them “another important piece in the puzzle” of history.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The John Ruan House, a historic mansion in Philadelphia, houses the Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum and Library. Image by Smallbones, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Philadelphians were clearly tired of the Civil War in the days leading up to the invasion.
They read regular newspaper accounts of Union setbacks and horrific battlefield losses while wounded soldiers filled their hospitals and fresh military units clogged the streets.
To escape, some attended the stage adaptation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin at the Continental Theatre; others took in the play Peep O’Day at the New Chestnut Street Theatre or caught a concert by Birgfeld’s popular German military band in Fairmount Park.
But when they picked up The Inquirer on Monday, June 29, 1863, there was no getting away from the war. The Confederate army was on their doorstep. The front page carried a map showing “THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA” along with stories describing the threat to the state capital of Harrisburg—and to Philadelphia.
“TO ARMS! CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA!! The Rebels Are Upon Us!” the headlines said in bold type.
As tens of thousands gather at Gettysburg this summer to watch and re-create the battle fought 150 years ago, area exhibits, monuments, and historic sites are reminding Philadelphians of a traumatic time that left its mark on the city.
Many area residents will travel 140 miles to see two massive reenactments planned in June and July. The largest, July 4-7, is expected to have up to 15,000 re-enactors and 80,000 spectators over the four days, organizers said. The other, June 27-30, is expected to draw about 8,000 re-enactors and thousands of spectators.
“Gettysburg was a battle that was so close to us and our homes,” said Sharon Smith, president of the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia, which has been seeking a new home. “The connection between the Civil War and Philadelphia is powerful and strong—and we can still see it today. The city is a living monument to the war.”
In nearly every neighborhood—from sprawling Laurel Hill Cemetery in East Falls, where Gettysburg’s victorious Union Gen. George Gordon Meade is buried, to monuments near Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park—are the vestiges of a bygone age, when the city joined a crusade to save the Union.
About 90,000 Philadelphians were on the enlistment rolls during the war. That number includes reenlistments but not African American soldiers, whose numbers were unknown.
“After Washington, the Northern city most impacted by the war was Philadelphia,” said Andy Waskie, historian and Temple University professor who wrote Philadelphia and the Civil War – Arsenal of the Union. “It was the most important center of the war effort, and if it had been removed from the Union, it would have been a tremendous loss.”
In the collection of the Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum and Library in the city’s Frankford section is a recruiting poster calling on citizens in June 1863 to enlist and rally in defense of the city.
Then-Mayor Alexander Henry told the populace to “close your manufacturies, work-shops and stores before the stern necessity of common safety makes it obligatory. Assemble yourself forthwith for organization and drill.”
At the Heritage Center of the Union League is a public exhibit displaying a flag that flew over the Philadelphia Brigade at Gettysburg during the Confederates’ attack known as Pickett’s Charge, and the podium President Abraham Lincoln later used to give the Gettysburg Address.
And at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a large collection of papers and personal correspondence of Gen. Meade along with other Civil War records, newspapers, and images.
For Philadelphians in 1863, “there was no way of avoiding the war,” said Andrew Coldren, historian and administrator curator of the Salem County Historical Society and consultant for the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia. “Troops and supplies moved through the city all the time.”
Units from “New England states came in by train and stopped here,” Coldren said. “When they left (by rail or ship), they were stepping off into war.”
Tens of thousands of weary troops took advantage of the city’s so-called refreshment saloons that provided food, drinks, and company. There were large halls on Washington Avenue near Swanson Street and on what was Otsego Street south of Washington.
Today, the buildings are gone, but the hospitality shown in them is remembered in books such as Philadelphia in the Civil War, which was published by the city in 1913.
“Dear Parents,” wrote one soldier in 1863, “I will endeavor to give you a faint description of our reception in Philadelphia, but I know that my pen cannot half do justice to the subject. . . . Anyone who thinks there is any lack of support for the war has only to march through Philadelphia.”
During the Pennsylvania invasion, the city “was the first and only major Northern city that was physically threatened,” Coldren said. “The fear people felt was real.”
For Southern Gen. Robert E. Lee, Philadelphia would have been a plum. It was a financial, political, naval, shipping and rail hub with a strong military tradition and the two largest hospitals in the North, Satterlee in West Philadelphia and Mower in Chestnut Hill.
In the summer of 1863, the City of Brotherly Love also looked like an armed camp.
“A Confederate cavalry raider was captured on the outskirts of the city,” said Waskie, president of the General Meade Society, who has portrayed Meade as a reenactor. “He was asked why he was there, and he said he kind of wanted to see the big city.”
Anxious crowds gathered outside newspaper offices near Chestnut and Third Streets to read headlines posted on bulletin boards and wait for papers to come off the presses.
After two days of desperate fighting in Gettysburg, the stage was set for the climactic attack—winner take all. With bayonets fixed and the Stars and Bars fluttering overhead, 12,000 battle-hardened Confederates charged across an open field toward a copse of trees on Cemetery Ridge in Gettysburg on July 3.
Among the Union soldiers awaiting them was Gen. Alexander Webb’s Philadelphia Brigade, which helped repulse the Southern onslaught. He and Brig. Gen. John Gibbon, a native of Philadelphia’s Holmesburg section, were both wounded—and later honored by bronze statues on the battlefield.
After the fight, city residents heaved a sigh of relief, and Meade—the victorious general—expressed his joy to his wife, Margaretta. “It was a grand battle and is in my judgment a most decided victory, tho I did not annihilate or bag the Confederate Army,” the general wrote in a July 5, 1863, letter in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
“This morning they retired in great haste into the mountains leaving their dead unburied and their wounded on the field,” he said. “They waited one day, expecting that, flushed with success, I would attack them when they would play their old game of shooting us from behind breastworks—a we played this time to their entire satisfaction.”
Meade told his wife “the men behaved splendidly—I really think they are becoming soldiers – They endured long marches . . . and stood one of the most terrific cannonades I ever witnessed.”
His horse “Baldy was shot again & I heard will not get over it,” wrote Meade, who would later see him recover and carry him on rides through Fairmount Park, where the two are portrayed in bronze behind Memorial Hall.
The general was so popular that a thankful Philadelphia gave him a house at 1836 Delancey Place, where he died in 1872. Meade’s name remains in large letters over the door of the brick corner property, which has been converted into apartments.
Inside the Union League’s Heritage Center are a carte de visite image, oil painting and engraving of Meade along with a table, rocking chair and chair from a two-room farmhouse where the general held his council of war at Gettysburg before the third day of the battle.
The exhibit, called “Philadelphia 1863: Turning the Tide,” also includes an empty coffin intended for Union Brig. Gen. Gabriel R. Paul, who was believed to have been mortally wounded—shot through both eyes—and listed as deceased at Gettysburg.
His son, a Union captain, came with the coffin to collect the remains when he learned his father had survived, said James Mundy Jr., director of library and historical collections at the League.
Farther north, at the Grand Army of the Republic Museum and Library, is the preserved head of Meade’s horse, Old Baldy, and memorabilia of enlisted men and officers, including a cannonball embedded in a tree trunk, a pair of handcuffs belonging to presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth, and a bloodstained strip of fabric from a pillowcase on which the dying Lincoln rested his head.
After Gettysburg, many wounded Union soldiers were brought back to Philadelphia hospitals. At least 157,000 would be treated in the city during the war.
To help pay for their care, the U.S. Sanitary Commission held a Great Central Fair at what is now Logan Circle, next to the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, where more than $1 million was raised in 1864.
Lincoln, accompanied by wife Mary and son Todd, visited the fair on June 16 and contributed 48 signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln signed the original Jan. 1, 1863, declaring “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”
The copies were sold for $10. (In 2010, a copy once owned by Robert F. Kennedy sold for nearly $3.8 million at a Sotheby’s auction.)
Philadelphians next saw Lincoln at Independence Hall, where his body lay in state after his assassination in 1865. “Philadelphia had the largest free black population in the country at the time of the Civil War,” Coldren said, “and many African Americans waited in line to see the man who had such an impact on their lives and their future.”
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-15-13 2047GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The John Ruan House, a historic mansion in Philadelphia, houses the Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum and Library. Image by Smallbones, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
The bronze sculpture ‘On Watch,’ (commemorating the World War II U.S. Naval Amphibious Training Base, Solomons, Maryland, 1942-1945 by artist Antonio Tobias Mendez (2007). Image by CramYourSpam.This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. WESTMINSTER, Md. (AP) – Antonio Tobias “Toby” Mendez, the sculptor who created the statues of Cal Ripken Jr. and other Orioles players at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, will be sculpting a bronze relief for the Westminster branch of the Carroll County Public Library.
Mendez will join two other artists in the Mary Lou Dewey Sculpture Park, located just outside of the library. The sculpture will be a bronze relief sculpture, meaning it will be mounted to a wall, but have three-dimensional elements to it, he said. Mendez intends to have an agricultural scene on the bronze relief, he said.
“It will be a celebration of the history of agriculture in Carroll County,” Mendez said.
Mendez announced the sculpture last weekend at the Westminster Flower and Jazz Festival, where residents enjoyed swing dancing and music in the park.
Lynn Wheeler, the director of Carroll County Public Libraries, said part of the intent of the sculpture garden is for special events like the festival where Mendez announced the new project. Maintaining the park will keep the space inclusive, Lisa Back, the public relations specialist for the library, said.
“Our main goal is to keep the park the way it is looks now,” Wheeler said.
Commissioning a bronze statue isn’t cheap, though—Wheeler said the bronze lion, titled Wild Imaginings by Bart Walter which sits outside of the library, cost $100,000. There were also additional costs like the granite and laying a proper foundation, Wheeler said.
Like for the previous projects, this project is funded through private donors with the Friends of the Mary Lou Dewey Sculpture Park, a nonprofit with the Community Foundation of Carroll County, Wheeler said. Fundraising for the project will begin this summer, Wheeler said.
Mendez said while he doesn’t have a particular scene in mind yet for the bronze relief, he intends to start sketching ideas this month, and expects to have it completed in about a year.
He has created works that range from sports figures to political figures, but an agricultural scene shouldn’t be too far out of his element.
“I’ve done a lot of projects that celebrate the working man,” he said.
A bronze relief is a little different than other sculptures, because it focuses more on the drawing and rendering of the form, he said.
Back said that while many residents in Westminster no longer live on a farm, and instead travel the 30 minutes to work in Baltimore, agriculture is a very historical and important piece of the county.
Hilary Hatfield, the president of Art Collector’s Athenaeum, helps facilitate public work projects like Mendez’s, she said. As the former executive director of the Carroll Arts Council, she said it is wonderful to be working with the community.
“I think with Toby (Mendez’s) piece, it really connects with the roots with the community,” she said.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-16-13 1335GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The bronze sculpture ‘On Watch,’ (commemorating the World War II U.S. Naval Amphibious Training Base, Solomons, Maryland, 1942-1945 by artist Antonio Tobias Mendez (2007). Image by CramYourSpam.This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Little Orphan Annie and Sandy dolls in original box, circa 1936. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Dan Morphy Auctions LLC.
LOMBARD, Ill. (AP) – It was a “hard-knock life” for the creation of one Lombard resident in the 1920s.
Cartoonist Harold Gray penned the character Little Orphan Annie when he was living in a town now better known for its collection of lilac bushes than rough-and-tumble streets.
From her quaint suburban roots, Annie became a daily syndicated comic strip, a radio show, films and a Broadway musical, building a fan base far and wide.
“Annie is such an important part of Lombard history,” said Jeanne Schultz Angel, executive director of the Lombard Historical Society. “Not enough people know that Harold Gray lived here in Lombard and he created the character of Little Orphan Annie in Lombard.”
Annie’s Lombard heritage is a fun little-known fact celebrated recently as the branch of BMO Harris Bank in the village’s downtown donated a collection of Annie memorabilia to the historical society.
Bank manager Mark Bennecke donated items that span 70 years and include comics, mugs, badges, toys, lunchboxes and a bracelet.
“The collection was displayed in our branch for a while and it’s time to share it with the community,” Bennecke said. “I am excited that everyone will be able to enjoy the memorabilia at the Lombard Historical Society.”
Schultz Angel said the donated items won’t go on display right away, but they will play nicely with a collection of Annie-themed Christmas cards Gray sent back to friends in Lombard after leaving the Lilac Village in the early 1930s.
The newly donated Annie memorabilia could be shown in a month or two as part of other exhibits, but Schultz Angel said its main display will occur in about a year and a half. That’s when the society will spend a $45,000 state grant on exhibit design and production, incorporating the new Annie collection into the plan.
“Annie has such a tremendous following worldwide,” Schultz Angel said. “We’re happy that it’s going to be here.”
