Fort Montgomery-- Part 9

During the mid-1980s, Victor Podds worked with local historical societies to have the state of New York purchase the property with a view toward the possible restoration of the site.  Despite being offered the fort at no cost,  negotiations broke down and the state declined to accept the property.  

Since May 2006, Podds' heirs have attempted to sell the property on eBay.  The first auction ended on June 5, 2006, with a winning bid of $5,000,310.  However, the sale was not completed, and as of 2019 the fort and lands surrounding it remain for sale.

(Of course, we now know that it has been bought recently.  See last month's posts.)

There are current concerns among preservationists that what remains of the fort today in in danger of  catastrophic structure collapse.

--Brock-Perry

Captain Gwinn's Portrait-- Part 2

Thomas Sully painted the portrait of Captain John Gwinn and his wife Caroline.  By his count, during his lifetime he produced 2,631 paintings.  Besides portraits, he also did landscapes and historical pieces.

  His painting "Portrait of  Anna and Harriet Coleman, sold for $145,000 in 2013.

The paintings of Gwinn and his wife were sold from the private collection of a Southern diplomat.

Good news in that the USS Constitution Museum bought both paintings for $19,000.  They said it was acquired from the James Severs collection.

John Gwinn died of chronic gastritis.

--Brock-Perry

There Are Paintings of Captain Gwinn and His Wife and Were at Auction in 2020

A few posts ago, I wrote that there were no known paintings of Captain John Gwinn of the USS Constitution.  While looking up more information on him, I came across a source that said paintings of him and his wife Caroline had been up for auction on November 21, 2020.

They had an estimated price of between $20,000 and $30,000 and auctioneers were Wooten & Wooten.  The one of Capt. Gwinn was made in 1839 and his wife's a few years later.

Thomas Sully painted them.  He was a famous artist living in Philadelphia who painted such subjects as Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams and Marquis  de Lafayette.  Born in England in 1783 and emigrated with his family to Charleston, S.C.,  in 1792.  

Another of his subjects was Britain's Queen Victoria.    His Adams portrait hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  Two of his Jefferson portraits are at the University of Virginia and at West Point.    

--Brock-Perry

Newly Acquired Documents Relating to the Early Years of the USS Constitution to Be Unveiled-- Part 1

 From the October 21, 2020, Boston 25 News  "Papers shed light on early years of 'Old Ironsides,' Navy" by Marl Pratt, AP.

The collection was revealed on a Facebook Live celebration of the ship's 223rd birthday.

One of the documents shows the private signals used between the U.S. Navy and that of the United Kingdom.

The USS Constitution Museum has acquired 150 documents, including correspondence between George Washington's Secretary of War and the leader of the Haitian Revolution, that shed light on the ship's early history.  Most people know a lot about the ship in the War of 1812, but not much else.  The Haitian revolution was the United States' first international conflict.

The collection had been in private hands for more than 225 years, but was obtained at auction.  It is the largest collection the museum has gotten in more than a decade.

The cost of the documents was not disclosed, but they were paid for by a group of museum supporters called the Commodores.

Thanks Commodores.  --Brock-Perry

Lt. John Tucker's Sword Offered at Auction

From Invaluable auction site.

Ross Auction Company in Chillicothe, Ohio, had his sword in Lot 208:  1810 Lt. John Tucker's  War of 1812 officer's sword.

It sold, but I couldn't log in.

This was from the Florence Shanstrom Barrett estate, so likely this is Susanna Tucker Shanstrom's father's sword that I was writing about in the last two posts.

It was estimated to bring $2,000 to $4,000.  Other family papers were also available to the purchaser.

--Brock-Perry

First Printing of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' Goes to Auction at a Fraught Time-- Part 1

From the June 2, 2020, WBUR by Andrea Shea.

"We all know  the words penned by Francis Scott Key more than 200 years ago.  As school children, we sang about the dawn's early light and the rockets red glare.  We've heard countless celebrities and millions of sports fan belt it out how--even through it all-- our flag was still there.

"Professional football players (and many others) have refused to participate in that tradition as an act of cultural dissent  against racial  oppression and police-involved killings of unarmed black Americans.  Now, after a pain-filled weekend of peaceful-turned-violent protests against enduring racial  injustice  and deadly inequality, people across the nation are stoking questions about what freedom and patriotism mean in 2020."

But, now, one of the few original newspaper printings of Keys' lyrics are going up for auction online at Christie's Auction House.  It opens for bid on June 2 and runs through June 18.

The American Antiquarian Society in Worcester owns two of the three original copies known to exist.  They are putting one up for sale and never would have believed this would happen at the same time as a pandemic and wide spread social unrest.

What is at auction is a September 20, 1814, copy of the Baltimore Patriot & Evening Advertiser.

--Brock-Perry

Sword Seized by Connecticut Cops May Have Been Wielded by President in the War of 1812-- Part 1

From the Nov. 7, 2019, Fox News by Frank Miles.

A sword from the American Revolution that may have been used by a future president of the United States has been recovered in Connecticut.  Studies will be made to determine whether it is or not.  Is it the same one that disappeared from the Cincinnati Historical Society forty years ago?

It is believed that this sword was carried into battle by future President William Henry Harrison in the War of 1812, and before him, carried into battle in the American Revolution by  Continental Army Col. John Cleves Symmes, Harrison's future father-in-law.

Police in Windsor, Ct. seized the sword just before it was to be auctioned by James Kochan of Wiscasset, Maine.  Kochan, a collector, said he bought the sword in 2015 from a collection being sold by Christie's auction house in New York.

It was spotted online by Dave Sunberg, a member of the Harrison-Symmes Memorial Foundation who alerted police.

--Brock-Perry

Sea Battle Paintings Sale at Auction

From Christie's September Sampling.

Sold in September.

If you had some extra bucks hanging around you could have some wonderful War of 1812 sea battle paintings.

The first one is believed to have been the battle between the frigates USS United States and the HMS Macedonian.  This was painted by Thomas Chambers.  It sold for 175% above the estimate.

There was also a pair of paintings of the War of 1812 sea battle between the USS United States and the Macedonian and the USS Constitution vs. the HMS Guerriere attributed to Michele Felice Corne.  They sold for 150% above estimate, for $25,000.

--Brock-Perry

New Orleans' Jordan Noble-- Part 6: Other Items for Auction

Other items up for bid at the auction:  weapons, swords, a rare New Orleans and Louisiana map, paintings and manuscripts signed by Napoleon Bonaparte, James Madison and Governor C.C. Claiborne.

The collection was on loan for many years to the Louisiana State Museum, but has since returned to private hands.

Neal Auctions hope that an institution will get it, but can't say for sure because of bids.

I am hoping that an institution will get the drum and flag and other items so that the general public can still view them.  I hate to think of them being in somebody's private collection.

But, Money Talks, As We So Well Know.  --Brock-Perry

New Orleans' Jordan B. Noble-- Part 1: Expecting $250,000 for His Drum

From WWL 4 CBS.

Neal Auction Company expects to get as much as $250,000 for Jordan Noble's War of 1812 drum.  They have it listed as "The Exceptionally Important Jordan B. Noble Infantry Snare Drum."

It is part of a collection of some 200 items of the Gaspar Cusachs collection who assembled a massive array of New Orleans local history objects before his death in 1929.

Noble's name is signed inside the drum.  It is believed he was born a slave in Georgia around 1800.

The National Parks Service says he joined the 7th U.S. regiment in 1913 as a free man and became a drummer.  At the Battle of New Orleans, he was one of nearly 900 free men of color who defended his adopted city.

--Brock-Perry