COMPLIMENTARY COPY
The Most Widely Read Collector’s Newspaper In The East Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
By Karl Pass
n what were seven straight days of sales, Guernsey’s, an established auctioneer and brokering firm based in New York City, dispersed the well-publicized “Wild West” collection belonging to the city of Harrisburg, Pa. Held in the Carousel Pavilion at Metro Bank Park on City Island, the sale was held from July 15 to 21. Situated on the Susquehanna River, City Island is owned
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“I think it is a great thing” is how Arlan Ettinger explained this gun. This custom drilling in a presentation case was given to Theodore Roosevelt on the Fourth of July, 1916, by the United Spanish War Veterans, Camp Number Three, Pueblo, Colo. It sold to a private collector bidding by phone for $118,750 and was underbid by an Internet bidder.
One of Reed’s visions had included increasing the city’s role in regional tourism. He had planned to create five museums, one being a National Museum of the Old West, telling the story of westward expansion along with the region’s rich transportation history. “The West started here,” explained Reed. It was a supply point and riverFirearms were a popular segment of the sale. Roughly 600 were in the collection. Selling here is a Colt single crossing point for people headed to the Western territoaction revolver cut-down 45 caliber that came with a ries. Reed was reimbursed through a “special projects letter describing its ownership from Wyatt Earp to Sam Toole. It sold for $12,500. Pass Photo
Dr. John “Doc” Holliday’s dentist chair sold for $50,000 to an Internet bidder, underbid by a phone bidder. The oak and leather mounted reclining dentist chair was used during the years he practiced in Las Vegas.
John “Doc” Holliday’s frock coat displayed under glass was one of the stars of the sale. It sold on day six for $68,750 to an Internet bidder and came with a letter describing its history of ownership. Pass Photo
by Harrisburg, the capital. Primarily throughout the 1990s, then-Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed amassed thousands upon thousands of objects, the majority of which pertained to the American West, spending between $7.9 million and $8.3 million, as reported by The PatriotNews. A complete inventory and invoice will likely never be known, due to recordkeeping errors and poor accounting resources. So why did the mayor of Pennsylvania’s capital city build what had been considered the most extensive collection of Western memorabilia, and how was it funded? Reed, who entered office in 1982 and is still considered by some the savior of Harrisburg, was an instrumental force in revitalizing the once-struggling city. Today, the city again faces dire fiscal circumstances and a high crime rate. It is under state-administered receivership, and both the former mayor and current one face criticism.
The carousel pavilion next to the baseball stadium on City Island is where the sale was held. Pass Photo
Five truckloads of material were hauled from the warehouse to the pavilion on City Island and sold on the seventh and final day in an uncataloged sale with no Internet bidding. Among the items were 30 saddles, hats, crates full of bottles, tools, contemporary prints, and a large assortment of furniture, much of it in-the-rough. Pass Photo
VOL. 44, NO. 32 FRIDAY AUGUST 9, 2013
the city council, that the mayor dropped his plans for the proposed museum. A resolution was passed to disperse the collection and put the proceeds toward reducing budget deficits. The city’s portion of the Heritage sale was $1.35 million. Most of the items sold were considered to have been among the most valuable material in the holdings and most historically significant. The city’s collection of Wyatt Earp and “Doc” Holliday artifacts and memorabilia reportedly once caught the eye of collector and actor Kevin Costner, who starred as Earp in the 1994 film Wyatt Earp. Costner is said to detective badge of Allan have once offered The Pinkerton shown here sold for Mayor Reed double $46,875. It reads, “Pinkerton’s/ what he paid for the National/We neversleep/ material, as reported by Detective/Agency.”.A letter John Luciew in The came with the badge from Patriot-News. During Allan Pinkerton to his the 2007 sale, a court lawyer Aaron Jeffries, summons document which read, “In the event of demise, it is my request with what is thought to my that my gold shield be be the earliest known bequeathed to my nephew, signature of the famous Philip Pinkerton. Thanks, lawman, dated “23th Allan Pinkerton.” [sic] day of July 1870” Pinkerton (1819-1884) and signed “W.S. served in the Union Earp,” sold for Army during the Civil War and is best known $44,812.50. Moving ahead to for his investigative work creating the Pinkerton 2012, the city contract- and National Detective Agency. ed Guernsey’s to conduct the dispersal of everything remaining. “We were initially contacted by the city as one of 30 companies about two years ago,” stated Guernsey’s founder and president Arlan Ettinger. “We eventually became a finalist (one of three), and after we won, (we) met with Mayor Linda Thompson for a (Continued on page 2)
reserve fund” administered by the Harrisburg Authority, where non-tax funds were used, according to The New York Times. Only two of the museums were ever made: the National Civil War Museum and the Pennsylvania National Fire Museum. Some of the objects Reed purchased included such eclectic artifacts as Annie Oakley’s traveling case, a “wanted” poster for Jesse James, a coat owned by John “Doc” Holliday, “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s megaphone, George Custer’s Bowie knife, and Wyatt Earp’s pistol, to name just a small sample of items. Heritage Auction Company, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, sold 816 lots A tintype photograph of from the vast assemblage on Nov. 10 and 11, 2007. The John “Doc” Holliday by Juno Photography in Prescott, Ariz., circa 1880, sold for $10,000 to an Internet bidder. sale took place in Dallas. It was the year before, in 2006, under pressure from
An oil on canvas “Savage Ale” framed advertising sign painting signed on bottom left, “W.M. Kessler, 1875” sold for $18,750. From Saloon #10 in Deadwood, South Dakota, the estabAn inside look at Metro Bank Park, home of the lishment is a museum today, but also still Harrisburg Senators. The auction was held in a large operates as a bar. A bullet hole in the painting is believed to have been building next to the stadium. Pass Photo from a shot fired by Calamity Jane on March 13, 1879.