What's It Worth?

Posted By whatsitworth on January 23, 2012

I’m wondering if you can tell me anything about this unusual piece of World Fair memorabilia?  I bought it hidden in a box lot from a yard sale 30+ years ago.  It is soft, supple animal skin with “Tower of Jewels, Panama Pacific Exposition, San Francisco – 1915″ etched into it.  It also has some flowers etched in along with some applied velvet poinsettia and buds.

I just finished Simon Winchester’s 2005 work, “A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906″ and found it riveting.  It traces historic, geologic, sociologic and economic aspects that led to the development of continents, mountain ranges and the city of San Francisco.  I learned a tremendous amount about California history and I’m better able to tie in your wonderful pillow with this history.

The 1915 San Francisco Panama Pacific International Exposition celebrated both the opening of the Panama canal in 1914 as well as the rebirth of a city destroyed by earthquake and fire less than a decade in its past.

The fair saw of 18 million visitors and featured a five-acre reproduction of the Panama Canal and a Ford Automobile assembly plant; the Liberty Bell was transported to the site and the fair was visited by Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and other luminaries of the day.  General Electric electrified the entire sight – the largest expanse of electrification to date.

The Tower of Jewels was one of the most iconic buildings of the fair.  At 453 feet surmounted by a figure of a Phoenix, the tower was hung with more than 100,000 pieces of multi-faceted colored Bohemian glass.  These “jewels” were suspended loosely so they glittered in the breeze; searchlights illuminated the building night and day.

Likenesses of the Tower of Jewels graced postcards, book covers, pins, scarves, spoons, plates and any other imaginable souvenir.  Your two-part embossed leather pillow is one of the more unusual pieces I’ve seen.  It isn’t clear to me from the pictures of the applied florals were part of the original pillow or if someone at a later date tried to add color to the monochromatic pillow.

PPIE souvenir items are always hot with collectors.  The huge variety of items produced mean that collectors at any price level can afford items.  Your embossed pillow is lovely and it would be a simple matter to reassemble it.  At auction it would have a pre-sale estimate of $300-500.

I found this pin cleaning out an estate.  I know it is not gold and a real diamond but I’m wondering what you can tell me about it.  The pin is two inches long and reads, “California Diamond Jubilee.”

Interestingly, when a person or couple celebrates a Diamond Jubilee this signifies a 60-year accomplishment:  England’s Queen Elizabeth will be honored this summer for her Diamond Jubilee.  For an item or an entity to attain a Diamond Jubilee, however, it must reach the 75-year mark.  Your pin commemorates the 1925 celebration of California’s 75th or Diamond Jubilee.

From a gem point of view, a diamond weighing in at 245.33 carats found in South Africa in 1895 was named the Jubilee Diamond.  The rough stone weighed over 650 carats and was split into two stones.  One was presented to the King of Portugal and the larger piece was cut in a manner that had the characteristics of both the brilliant cut and the rose cut diamond. The stone was so fine that the owners considered presenting it to Queen Victoria in recognition of her 1897 diamond jubilee. They thought better of it and subsequently displayed the stone at the 1900 Paris Exposition. The stone is still referred to as the Jubilee Diamond and the unusual and old-fashioned cut is still known as a jubilee cut.

Your lovely little piece of costume jewelry features a center stone closely mimicking a twelve-carat jubilee cut stone.  Some of the enamel is worn and it looks as if the two stones flanking the center stone are missing.  That being said, I love this pin.  Not a lot of commemorative items were produced to celebrate California’s Diamond Jubilee – we mostly see medallions and a specially minted half dollar coin.

To the ardent collectors of California Historic memorabilia this is a great piece.  I’d estimate it at $50 to $80.

Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions

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Posted By whatsitworth on January 19, 2012

We are in possession of this lounge and are wondering if it is worth selling at auction.  It has some wear (we are the second owners) and a tag that reads Knoll.

From May 1929 through January of 1930 the Catalan city of Barcelona hosted an International Exposition; twenty European countries exhibited.  For the first time since its defeat in the First World War, Germany, with its newly elected democratic government, participated.  Charged with designing a building to communicate “our desire to be absolutely truthful, giving voice to the spirit of a new era”, Germany chose modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to design its pavilion.

Ludwig Mies was born in Germany in 1886.  He studied building techniques with his master stonemason father then, at 19, he moved to Berlin to study with Art Nouveau architect and furniture designer Bruno Paul.  He received his first independent architectural commission to design a home for philosopher and art historian Alois Riegl at age 20.  He was fascinated with the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright and, at age 26, opened his own architectural firm in Berlin.

After his 1921 divorce Mies adopted his mother’s maiden name, added the Dutch flavored “van der” and became popularly known as Mies van der Rohe.  An active member of Berlin’s avant garde movement in philosophy, art, architecture, poetry and design, van der Rohe and his designs for glass and steel towers won several design competitions. Though most of his early designs were not produced, through his role as artistic director of the Weissenhoff Project, a modern model housing community, he did design a well-received apartment block.  His success and standing in the community made him a natural choice as an architect for a country yearning to be perceived as modern, innovative and democratic.

Van der Rohe designed the Barcelona Pavilion with a flat roof supported by steel columns.  The walls, made of extravagant marbles, onyx and colored glass, could be repositioned throughout the structure to achieve a sense of lightness and to blur the lines between the interior and the exterior.

Mies van der Rohe’s vision for the pavilion was to be one of a restful place where exhibition visitors could attain a sense of tranquility after the sensory bombardment of the rest of the exposition.  To achieve that goal, he also designed the furnishings for the pavilion.

As the place where Germany would officially have an audience with Spanish King Alfonso XIII, van der Rohe wanted to design something fitting the monarch but falling within the pavilion’s sleek modernity.  His design of a chair and footstool was sleek and disciplined using modern chrome and tufted leather.  Only two chairs were produced but the design was so well received that they began to be manufactured immediately.  The pavilion was dismantled in 1930.

By 1930, van der Rohe had designed the companion daybed.  The structure of chromed steel legs and tufted leather mimicked the Barcelona Pavilion chairs and it has been called the Barcelona daybed ever since.  What you have is a Mies van der Rohe designed Barcelona daybed made by the Knoll furniture company.  Knoll, founded by another German immigrant Hans Knoll, has held exclusive rights to the chair stool and bed since 1953.  The bed itself had a huge surge in popularity that year when modern architect Philip Johnson selected it for his much-photographed Manhattan apartment.

Knoll International still produces the Barcelona daybed to this day but earlier examples of the bed are in great demand in this mad-for-Mad-Men world.  In good condition this piece of furniture could easily bring $2500-4000 at auction.

Mies van der Rohe left Nazi Germany in 1937 and settled in the United States where he continued to be one of the most innovative architects and designers of the 20^th century.  Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art has more than 400 of his drawings, blueprints, models and pieces of furniture in their permanent collection.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of a visit to Barcelona try to plan one.  The people are delightful, the food is phenomenal and the architecture is out of this world.

Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions

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Posted By whatsitworth on December 22, 2011

When he died in the spring of 2011, a retired mechanic for Greyhound Bus Lines left behind a touching and amusing legacy – a large collection of greyhound dog figures in bronze, porcelain, silver and glass.  These hundreds of pieces have been lotted  into 45 groups that will be sold at Michaan’s Auction in Alameda on Saturday, January 7th.  The proceeds of the sale will be donated to Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael.

Greyhounds as a breed have been companion animals for over 7000 years. The breed appears in artwork and pottery from ancient Greece and Rome; the breed is cited in Shakespeare, Chaucer and some translations of the bible. Greyhounds have been companions to characters as diverse as Alexander the Great, Queen Elizabeth I, Al Capone and JK Rowling.

Their striking good looks combined with a gentle affectionate nature made them ideal companions throughout western civilization; they were popular coursing dogs in England and Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries. The greyhound’s look was popularized in the United States during the art deco period in the 1920s and 30s.  Its elongated legs and tail, its broad chest and narrow head, its arched, double jointed spine all combined to form the canine equivalent of a bullet train or a skyscraper.

In 1929 the French automobile maker Delage featured a greyhound radiator cap; in 1930 Lincoln Ford followed suit with greyhound mascot.  Greyhounds were featured in print advertising and a series of British dogs were included in tobacco packs.  Swedish immigrant Carl Wickman began a business transporting miners in 1914; by 1921 the company had grown to 18 buses providing service in Minnesota.  These busses, painted a uniform grey, were affectionately dubbed “greyhounds.”  By 1929 the company was renamed Greyhound Bus Lines and the familiar greyhound logo first appears.

What happened to these regal dogs?  Why are they not as popular as labs or goldens as pets?  I blame Owen Patrick Smith and the city of Emeryville, California.

Until Smith invented the mechanized lure, greyhound racing was common but mostly small-time and amateurish, usually taking place in open fields.  The first commercially run races enclosed in fields used live rabbits to lure the dogs; spectators were horrified at the violence.  O.P. Smith received over 50 patents in his career related to the mechanical racing lure that could run around an oval track.  In 1919 he opened the first professional dog racing track with stands in Emeryville.

Interestingly, it is the very act of trying to prevent cruelty to animals that led to one of the cruelest abuses of dogs in our history.  With dedicated tracks and attached kennels, the sport of greyhound racing and the attendant betting grew to be a huge business.  Earlier field races were generally between two dogs; tracks could accommodate eight or nine dogs running a heat at the same time.  Dozens of races could be run in an afternoon requiring hundreds of dogs.

Greyhounds were bred at a furious pace but, even without injury, the dogs have a useful track life of only a few years.  After their career as a racer was over, a good percentage of these regal animals were killed.

Even as late as a couple of decades ago as many as 75% of racing greyhounds were killed when they ceased to be profitable for owners.  Today, with advocacy and adoption groups working with tracks and kennel owners the statistics are reversed: up to 75 or 80 percent of retired greyhounds find adoptive homes.   Greyhound racing is now illegal in all but 12 states.

Some of the greyhound figures at Michaan’s sale are clearly racers; some are just shown running and a number of the figures are of greyhounds in their favorite position, napping on a pillow.  The lots will be auctioned at about 2 p.m. and estimates range from $50 to $500.  To view the collection visit www.michaans.com and look at pages 74 through 78 of the catalog.

To learn more about greyhound adoption and advocacy visit www.grey2kusa.org; to learn more about Guide Dogs for the Blind visit www.guidedogs.com.

Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions

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Posted By whatsitworth on December 22, 2011

I inherited a number of pictures signed Harrison Fisher and I’m trying to determine the value of them.  The larger one reads,” I summon you to Comradeship in the Red Cross, Woodrow Wilson” and measures 39 x 30 inches.  The second reads, “Have you answered the Red Cross Christmas Roll Call?” and is 20 x 27 inches.  Each has a copyright date of 1918.

Harrison Fisher, sometimes referred to as “The Father of a Thousand Girls” was a hugely prolific illustrator.  Son of landscape artist Hugo Anton Fisher, Harrison was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1877.  The family moved to Alameda in 1887 where, in addition to being instructed by his father, Harrison and his brother studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art in San Francisco.

Harrison’s goal in life was to become an illustrator and commercial painter, rather than striving to be a portraitist.  At 17 he made his first sale, a drawing of an Indian Maiden, to a playing card company; a year later his political cartoon, JAPAN-MADE IN AMERICA appeared in the humor magazine Judge.

Harrison Fisher began work at age 18 as a staff illustrator for San Francisco’s Morning Call while continuing to produce freelance magazine work.  William Randolph Hearst – who later contracted Fisher to do a portrait of his mistress Marion Davies – hired Fisher away from the Call and brought him to the Examiner as an illustrator of society functions and sporting events.  Hearst then sent Fisher to New York to illustrate for his newly acquired New York Journal.  Hearst encouraged his illustrator to pursue freelance work as the more Fisher was published the greater was his value as an illustrator in the Hearst Empire.

Harrison Fisher painted women.  He painted women as beauties, as athletes, as teases, as scholars, as brides and as mothers.  In 1908 he published his first of nine books illustrating idealized women; he even featured a section about college women playing sports!  He did cover illustrations for Puck, The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, American Magazine and – over an uninterrupted period of 22 years – produced 293 cover illustrations for Cosmopolitan.  His work was so popular in his day that his images were reproduced on postcards, calendars, candy tins, sheet music, novelty mirrors and tape measures.

Fisher’s women were depicted as healthy, intelligent, independent and hard working.  Your 1918 color lithograph posters for the Red Cross show Fisher women as Red Cross nurses and implored women – who out of necessity had taken on many masculine roles during the war – and men to heed the call of patriotism and sacrifice.

At his request, most of Fisher’s original work was destroyed after his death.  Still, hundred have come on the market with prices ranging from $1000 to $30,000.  Period lithographic poster like yours, depicting a poignant and important period in world history, can bring in the low to mid hundreds depending on the condition.  These two iconic images – as well as scores of other Fisher women – are still being reproduced today.

In the spirit of the season please heed posters and contribute blood, time or money to this worth cause.

Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions

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Posted By whatsitworth on November 23, 2011

I dug these two bottles out of the San Mateo salt flats 40 or 50 years ago.  They are 12 and 11.5 inches high.  Each one is embossed with an eagle surrounded by the words SETLERS NASSAU.  Can you tell me what they were for and if they are worth anything?

The town of Neiderselters is in Germany, about 10 miles north of Frankfort has been famous since the 18th century for its mineral springs.  The town took its name from the word “seltrisa” meaning salty water.   Townspeople figured out how to store the water in stoneware jugs to retain the effervescence of the water so it could be distributed throughout Germany.

The town also featured a spa that drew well-heeled Europeans to the town. One such visitor was Prince Wilhelm of nearby Nassau-Orange and his wife Anna.  This visit turned out poorly for the town as the Prince, recognizing a market value, annexed the town and took over the springs.

The eagle is an element of Prince Wilhelm’s crest.  It became associated with the spings and was used on their stoneware bottles, called kruges, well into the 20th century.  Your bottles are likely from the late 19th century; they have an auction value of $20-50 each.

In the US we use “seltzer” as a generic term for sparkling water but the words origins are in the mineral springs of Neiderselter.

Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions

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Posted By whatsitworth on November 23, 2011

I am in my 70s and planning to relocate to a retirement community in the coming months.  I have a large collection of dolls that I will be giving away but before I do I’d like to have some idea of the value.

The first is a 12 inch wool felt doll.  I believe she was given to me as a child but I never played with her. She has a paper tag reading on one side, “Dolls of the Allies.  Created and Designed by     Ern Westmore, Famous Motion Picture Make Up Artist.  Belgium, China, Czechoslovakia, England, France, Greece, Hawaii, Holland, Norway, Poland, Russia, United States of America.”  The other side has the legend, “The Russian Doll.  They call me ‘Linbovintza’.  In Russia it means ‘Little Sweetheart’.  My country was invaded on June 22nd, 1941, and now I am an orphan.  Will you adopt me?”

I’ve always called the second doll my “French” doll because of her beret. I don’t know if she is French or not!  She’s 21 inches tall.

How wonderful!  I’m surprised that I’ve never seen one of these Allies dolls – evidently a set of 12 were made.  I find it delightful that Hawaii, invaded December 7, 1941, is included in the set but that other Allied countries including Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Mexico, Yugoslavia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa are not.  Perhaps their native costumes did not easily transfer to felt.

Ern Westmore was one of 6 sons of George Westmore, the patriarch of Hollywood make-up studios.  All six of the sons were involved in a number of studios and were credited with designing signature looks for Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn and even the Barbie Doll.  Working sometimes as partners and sometimes as bitter rivals, the Westmores developed beauty schools, cosmetic lines and training institutes for make-up artists.

The dolls were produced very briefly in the early 1940s.  I have read some accounts that the dolls were designed by Ern’s wife Dolly and originally marketed as “Dollywood Dolls.”  When that tactic was not a retail success, the dolls were re-branded as Dolls of the Allies.

Your sweet Russian doll with her rabbit trimmed hat, coat and boots would sell for $20-40 at auction.

Your second doll is not French at all but German.  She was made in the mid 1920s to mid 1930s by the Kammer Reinhart company.  K & R is a well established middle of the road doll company that originally produced bisque head dolls.  Your doll’s head, however, is made of celluloid on a fully jointed composition body. Celluloid dolls never gained large popularity – they are actually more fragile and prone to cracking in the heat than porcelain dolls.

Your little K & R celluloid head in her cotton kilt, flannel jacket and kicky beret would bring $100-150 at auction.

Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions

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Posted By whatsitworth on November 23, 2011

Michaan’s is honored to offer personal property from the estate of peninsula resident Connie Dunham in our upcoming annex sale.  For decades, Connie studied, practiced and taught the exquisite art of Japanese embroidery, or nihon shishu, to students from all over the west coast.

Japanese embroidery has been an art form for over 1000 years.  Originally used to adorn the robes of court members, the technique developed into a stand-alone art form fusing technique with spirituality.  Like sado the tea ceremony, kado the way of the flower, kendo the way of the sword, shodo the way of calligraphy and even Aikido the way of energy, nuido – the art of embroidery – is a specific type of work that reflects the contact between the mind, the heart and the hand.

To become proficient in nuido, a student must progress through a series of twenty phases focusing on fifty separate but integral techniques.  Some techniques overlap several phases including an understanding of symbolism and color choice.

Students must also learn how to properly prepare the silk fabric, how to lace the fabric to specialized frames, how to work with flat threads, twisted threads and couching threads. Students must use specially prepared silks and flosses, needles, tracing papers and patterns to achieve a work that reflect their lifestyle and state of heart all while conforming to accepted iconography and colors.

Not only did Connie teach embroidery, exhibit embroidery techniques and show finished pieces throughout the United States, she facilitated getting the proper materials to her students.  Thus her estate is left with a tremendous trove of thousands of tubes of silk and metallic threads, couching threads, tools, patterns, silks, needles, instruction books and finished works.

This is an incredible opportunity for anyone interested in Japanese embroidery to acquire materials and for anyone interested in textile arts in general to gain inspiration.  Connie Dunham’s Japanese embroidery collection will be sold on Tuesday, November 8^th and Wednesday November 9^th.  Preview is Sunday, November 6 and throughout both days of the sale.

For more information about Japanese embroidery or to find a local teacher contact the Japanese Embroidery Center in Atlanta, Georgia at 770/390-0617 Fax: 770/512-7837 or www.Japaneseembroidery.com.

Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions

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Posted By whatsitworth on November 22, 2011

This is a purse made of elephant skin.  It was given to my great-grandmother, Mary M. by her husband, Jack Martin who rode the horse Agile to win the 1905 Kentucky Derby.  The purse is in very nice condition with a working key and lock, small change purse, and mirror/compact.  It is lined in soft leather.

Can these items be legally sold?  And does it have any value?

Wow.  Although we’ve come a long way over the past century or so in the animal rights venue, we still have a ways to go.  The short answers to your questions are yes, it can be legally sold and yes, it has value.

Your great grandfather is described in “Two Minutes to Glory:  The Official History of Churchill Downs” as a “pretty-boy but tough and confident” jockey.  The book also describes the May 31, 1905 Kentucky Derby as the worst Derby ever:  it fielded only three horses, was won in a time of 2:10.75 and the winning purse was only $4850.

Your great-grandfather and Agile raced in the Tennessee Derby only a short time before this on April 3rd.  They won this mile and an eighth race in 1:58 and, according to the New York Times report of the day, took the winning purse of $8800 for this event.

So Jack had a good season and splurged on a showy and expensive gift for his wife:  a purse made from the exotic hide of an African elephant.

You must understand that during the 19th century the European colonization of Africa meant that huge numbers of non-native people were swarming to the area.  These 19th century folk loved not only the adventure of an African safari or an Egyptian dig:  they loved the collecting and taxonomy involved.  They supplied not only hunters but also photographers and sketch artists to document specimens, terrain and vegetation.   They collected their mounts and were quickly drawn to the perceived glamour of having luggage, shoes, drinks sets and furnishing made from exotic hides.

In 1909, former president Teddy Roosevelt and his son Kermit traveled with a 250-member party to collect specimens for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, which opened the following year.  They collected (read: killed) over 1100 specimens, 500 of which fell into the “big five” category of lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and Cape buffalo.

In 1913 the American Museum of Natural History in New York began its 5-year partnership with Carl Akeley to create lifelike dioramas of African mammals for the museum.  Hunting was fashionable, topical and had a weird scholar-hero aspect to it.

Your purse appears to be beautifully preserved, nicely made and of an attractive size.  In a vintage accessories sale it would have a pre-sale estimate of $250-500.

CITES is the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species.  Formed in 1973 with the goal of stopping the traffic and exploitation of endangered animals and plants.  By the mid 20th century, for example, South Africa’s elephant population had plummeted to about 200.  Now, after years of protection the population has grown so that by 1994, when the population had grown to over 17,000, culling of the elephant herds was legalized and the trade in these exotic skins was once more legal.  In 2009 the government of South Africa again agreed to culling:  animal rights activists continue to fight against this practice of destroying herds.

Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions

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Posted By whatsitworth on November 21, 2011

My Dad sent me this bookcase when I became a lawyer, many years ago.  He purchased it in 1946 from a used furniture store in New York City.  The measurements are 51″high, 12″deep and 35″ wide.  Each shelf comes apart, as well as the top & the bottom drawer.  The glass is original.  I have been told it is an Eastlake from the late 1800′s.  Not that I would ever sell it, but have always been curious as to its value.

How fitting that he gifted you this bookcase when you became a lawyer:  the form is traditionally called a barrister’s bookcase.  It was designed to protect books from dust and other elements but also, and most importantly, it was designed to be portable.

Early, pre-printing press books were expensive and were kept by their wealthy owners in specialized chests or caskets.  The magnificent Bodleian library in Oxford was one of the first large collections of books and manuscripts to house their holdings on open shelves as early as the 16th century.  Some of these early treasures still retain the binding chains that locked valuable texts to shelves.  

After the development of moveable type, printed books became available and more affordable.  Collections grew along with wealth and soon some of homes and colleges were home to magnificent libraries.  

Although we do not have the distinction between the two professions in the U.S., in English courts a barrister is an expert on case studies.  Part of the duties of a barrister is to summarize case studies and present them to the court.  Therefore, barristers required a way to move large amounts of printed material quickly and safely from chamber to chamber.

A barrister’s bookcase is a modular piece of furniture.  The style was marketed as “elastic bookcase” by Cincinnati based manufacturer Globe Wernicke in 1898.  Each shelf is a unique stand-alone element having a glass door with an up and over mechanism.  This means that the glass door can be pulled shut over the books and the shelf of books can be transported safely and easily without the necessity of unloading and reloading the shelves.  Shelves are interchangeable, so; some shelving element even act as desks; tops and bases are separate elements.

With your reeded pilasters and acanthus detailing, your bookcase could be called an Eastlake style.  Charles Eastlake was not a furniture maker but a British writer whose 1868 book, “Hints on Household Taste” urged Victorians to forego some of their bigger excesses in furnishings and to embrace simpler forms and cleaner lines.

This type of bookcase has never gone out of style and is currently produced by a number of companies.  Your bookcase is of late 19^th or early 20^th century make and would easily bring $500 to $700 at auction.

Mea Culpa!

Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions

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Posted By whatsitworth on November 21, 2011

My wife has two film canisters about 14 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick that she acquired in a post office auction 20 or 30 years ago.  They are labeled “D.W. Griffith - The Birth Of A Nation – Aug. 8, 1915 Color.”  They both have film in them.  Do these film have any value?

As I’ve said before, things have all sorts of value and not all of them are monetary.  I’ll address “Birth of a Nation” in a bit but I encourage you to take the film canisters out of your house.  They can be very dangerous!

I talked to Allen Michaan, owner of Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre, about your film.  He explained that cinematographers used nitrate-based film in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries until improvements in film composition technology eased nitrate films out of the market. The early nitrate films can be very dangerous:  as it deteriorates the film gives off nitrous oxide, nitrous dioxide and other highly toxic and combustible gases.  If trapped inside film cans these gases can spontaneously combust; if the gases leak out into the atmosphere they can destroy other types of film stored nearby. .  Allen recommends that you contact your local fire department or county hazardous waste management for disposal.

For an illustration of nitrate film’s volatility see the conflagration scene in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds.  While you’re at the video store be sure to rent a copy of “Birth of a Nation”, D.W. Griffith’s 1915 seminal and controversial film.

Dixon adapted Birth of a Nation from Thomas Dixon’s play “The Clansman” which was originally written as a propaganda piece for the Ku Klux Klan.  The film, starring Lillian Gish, was hailed as a masterpiece and is considered the first movie blockbuster.  Even when first distributed, however, the film was controversial.

The story is of a northern and a southern family in the reconstruction period after the Civil War.  It features white actors in black face acting ignorant and sexually aggressive towards white women; it dramatizes the suffering of whites after the civil war and glorifies the Ku Klux Klan to the point where the Klan is said to have used it as a recruiting tool.  Griffith, like his predecessor Dixon, firmly believed in white superiority

The NAACP vehemently opposed distribution of the film and the National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures debated whether to ban it.  It was the first movie to be screened in the White House and Woodrow Wilson is said to have been sympathetic to the sentiments expressed by the film and many white Americans believed the film accurately betrayed race and race relations. The film’s popularity gave rise to race riots throughout the country and rejuvenated membership in the Ku Klux Klan.

What’s it worth? It’s worth remembering that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions

Correction: Several people pointed out a huge error I made in last week’s column.  I did not do the required research and gave the wrong information about the reels of film.  Older 35-millimeter prints of “Birth of a Nation” could have been on dangerous nitrate stock.  This print, however, was on 16 millimeter film, was likely printed in the 1960s or 70s and is not dangerous at all.  The mistake was mine – I read the words on the film canister to Allen Michaan but did not tell him the measurements.  The good news is that I’ve learned something and am now aware of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont.  Check them out at www.nilesfilmmuseum.org.

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