Full Text:

HISTORIC AMERICANA AT C. WESLEY COWAN

(with 2 cuts)

By Rita Easton

MONTGOMERY, OHIO -- The Businessmen's Club of Montgomery hosted a

three-session auction of historic Americana conducted by C. Wesley Cowan on

November 6, preceded by two previews. While approximately 400 bidders

competed, driving the gross to $375,000 (including premium), only 50 buyers

were in the gallery. These accounted for only $55,000 of the gross, the rest

being absentees and phone bidders.

Realizing the highest bid of the day, an 1861 Confederate First Pattern

national flag made $18,000, purchased by a private buyer.

The hand sewn silk lot was decorated with gold paint and measured 20¬ inches

on the hoist edge, and 36 inches on the fly. The field was composed of three

horizontal silk bars, the uppermost a salmon pink (substituted for red) seven

inches wide; the center white, 6« inches wide; and the bottom salmon, 6‹

inches wide. All were joined by tight, small hand stitches. The canton was a

deep blue, with an 8«-inch circle of 11 five-pointed stars. Pre-auction

estimate on the lot was $7/9,000.

An extremely rare identified frock coat from a distinguished North Carolina

family (est $6/8,000) brought a solid $13,500, also purchased by a member of

the trade. Made for Confederate artillery man Joseph Graham, who was

practicing medicine in North Carolina's Mecklenberg County when he was

commissioned in May of 1861, the coat was double breasted, of gray wool. The

two-piece, "balloon" sleeves had three buttons on the underside and a scarlet

facing in a pointed pattern. They were decorated by gold braid gallons.

A general's sword and scabbard sold below estimate at $7,000. The

special-order sword, from Schuyler, Hartley and Graham, was etched "E Pluribus

Unum" with standards, shield laurel wreath, flags, and "US" in an unusual

vertical position.

A lot of 50 albumen photographs, mounted as sterographs on square cornered

glazed yellow cardstock, the series a survey of the Eastern Division of the

UPPR, realized $6,000 from an Eastern educational institution. Each photo bore

a paper label from Gardner's Washington studio containing a printed title and

"Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division." With

one exception, all were taken in Kansas and included primarily non-scenic

views.

A lot of 24 albumen photographs, 6¬ inches by nine inches, mounted on cream

card stock, each with the imprint "President Arthur's Journey Through Wyoming

and the National Park, August, 1883," was purchased at $5,500; a half-sheet

poster, with vibrant colors, mounted on linen, "Miller Bros. & Arlington 101

Ranch Real Wild West" show, featuring a cow-girl bronco buster, garnered

$5,500; a broadside, "The Scouts of the Plains," by Philadelphia printer

Richard Magee, achieved $7,500; and a half-sheet poster by the Russell Morgan

Print Company, of Cincinnati and New York, "A Far Eastern Artist's idea of

Buffalo Bill," reached $3,500.

"Great American Stallion Stake," a broadside printed in red, black, and blue,

surpassed the $2,000 high estimate to bring $4,000, purchased by the Kentucky

Derby Museum; and a 1933 Goudey baseball card featuring Babe Ruth, number 149,

sold at $3,250.

A book of Mexican War watercolors, bound in tooled calf with traces of the

gilded imprinted name of "Mary Ann's (illegible)", 25 pages, containing 11

manuscript copies of poems or quotations, as well as ten pen and ink sketches

of Mexican War scenes, most surrounding the Battle of Chirabusco, reached

$3,250; a campaign ambrotye of Abraham Lincoln attributed to Roderick M. Cole

of Peoria, taken in 1858, crossed at $2,200.

A Henry Clay cigar case of papier mache and paint, featuring a portrait of a

young and vigorous Clay seated before a column with blue sky and clouds

beyond, sold at $5,000; and an anonymous presentation album, circa 1890, a

compilation of 240 photographs of the Japanese prisons in the late Meiji

Period, mostly silver gelatin and albumen images, in rich golden silk brocade

cover, 15 inches thick, went out at $3,000.

Prices quoted do not reflect a required ten percent buyers premium, unless

otherwise noted. The next C. Wesley Cowan auction is scheduled for mid-April.