Blackwell Auctions – The American Sale
March 18 at Noon
5251 – 110th Avenue North, Suite 118, Clearwater, FL 33760
www.BlackwellAuctions.com
727-546-0200

CLEARWATER, FLA. — America’s rich cultural history is laced with heroes and scalawags, blue-blooded entrepreneurs and immigrant achievers who rose from the humblest beginnings. All who contributed to the colorful tapestry of the 246-year-old nation — whether saintly or scurrilous — are part of its story, which serves as the backdrop for Blackwell Auctions’ March 18 event titled “The American Sale,” starting at noon.

The 395-lot auction contains art, historical objects, antique American firearms and important signed ephemera, along with many other near-apocryphal pieces that will stun collectors. Highlight categories of the sale include a collection of deaccessioned early American through Twentieth Century presidential documents, letters and autographs; and a collection of sharpshooter Annie Oakley’s personal possessions (with family provenance). In addition, there are two single-lot items that qualify as unique American treasures: a silver pocket watch given to Theodore Roosevelt by his sister and a portrait of Chief Sitting Bull.

The Teddy Roosevelt pocket watch, a Waltham production in a coin-silver case, is well documented as having been one of the 26th president’s most cherished assets. It was given to him in 1898 by his sister Corinne Roosevelt Robinson and her husband Douglas Robinson and is engraved inside the cover: “Theodore Roosevelt” and “From D.R. and C.R.R.” The watch is referenced in detail in Corinne Roosevelt Robinson’s 1924 book My Brother Theodore Roosevelt, which includes the text of many letters she received from him. One of those letters, dated May 5, 1989, begins: “You could not have given me a more useful present than the watch; it was exactly what I wished [for]…” ($100/200,000).

A dignified oil on canvas portrait of Lakota chief Sitting Bull, painted in 1890 by Caroline Weldon (1844-1921), leads the American art category ($40/80,000). The portrait is one of four known to have been painted of Sitting Bull by Weldon, a New York artist who traveled to North Dakota in 1889 and became the chief’s confidante and personal secretary and remained so until 1890, when they had a falling out over his support of the Ghost Dance movement. Of Weldon’s four portraits, one is held at the North Dakota Historical Society in Bismarck, while another is in the collection of the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock. The remaining two were presumed lost until the painting to be sold by Blackwell Auctions was consigned by a descendant of its original owner, a railroad construction engineer from Minnesota.

Coincidentally, it was none other than Sitting Bull who bestowed the nickname “Little Sure Shot” on American sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who also features prominently in the sale. Several items personally owned by Oakley will be offered, including a French carriage clock that was engraved with her name and given to her for her birthday during the American Exposition in London 1887 ($10/20,000). Other Oakley items include 16 books owned, and, in some cases, signed, by Oakley. Also included is a 1926 personal check made out to her niece and signed with her married name “Annie Oakley Butler.” All of the Annie Oakley items to be auctioned come from a direct descendent of Oakley’s half-sister Emeline Patterson.

Autographed items in the sale include pieces signed by US presidents Abraham Lincoln, William Henry Harrison, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, John Tyler, John Quincy Adams and FDR. Also represented are two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Civil War figures Robert E. Lee, Admiral David Farragut and Jefferson Davis; and later Generals John Pershing and Douglas MacArthur. The signatures of literary lions Mark Twain and Walt Whitman, plus those of dozens of other notables, are found in this collection, as well.

A dated 1863 officer’s appointment signed by President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton names Connecticut officer Eleazer H. Ripley a captain in the 85th Reserve Corps, a non-combat unit for disabled soldiers. JSA authenticated, this prized Lincoln Civil War-era document is estimated at $5/10,000. The sale also features an 80-piece archive of Civil War letters, CDVs and a selection of original Nineteenth Century images, including tintypes, daguerreotypes and cabinet photos, many with historical subjects.

The American art section reveals a broad spectrum of paintings and sculptures, from a Western sculpture by Frederic Remington to an Adam Emory Albright oil painting of a child gathering flowers. A signed, original Ludwig Bemelmans (Austrian/American, 1898-1962) ink and gouache on paper painting of his famous book-series character “Madeline” is expected to achieve $2/4,000; while a much higher price is anticipated for each of two lithographs by Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975). Titled “Jesse James” and “Frankie and Johnnie,” respectively, each of the Western scenes — a train robbery and a saloon brawl — is artist-signed in pencil. Both lithographs were sourced from a section of a Missouri State Capitol mural that Benton painted in 1936. Offered consecutively, each is estimated at $10/20,000.

For additional information, www.blackwellauctions.com or 727-546-0200.

Auction begins at 12 Noon ET, Saturday, March 18. Preview Friday, March 17, 10am-5pm or by appointment.
Our own twist on an old favorite. Historical items, antique firearms, fineart, important signed documents. Not much in the way of brown furniture.
Portrait of Sitting Bull by Caroline Weldon. Thought to have been lost, this 1890 painting of the Lakota Sioux icon was painted by the subject of a movie starring Jessica Chastain, Woman Walks Ahead (2017).
Large selection of autographs and historic documents, never offered for sale at auction. Includes presidents and important figures from American history, 1650 to WWII. All are unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic.
Theodore Roosevelt’s own pocketwatch. Referenced in multiple family letters, and carried with him in Cuba and Africa.
Several dozen antique and modern firearms: Colt, Smith & Wesson, Winchester, Remington, Browning, Starr etc.
American art, including two signed etchings by artist Thomas Hart Benton, “Jesse James” and “Frankie &Johnnie”
“Little Sure Shot”
Personal items of sharpshooter Annie Oakley
A carriage clock, a birthday present to Oakley in 1887. Engraved “Annie Oakley” on top. In her possession, according to family history, at the time ofthe 1901 train accident in which she was seriously injured.
Apersonal check signed to her niece, 1926. Several books from Oakley’s personal library, including several that are signed. One of the books is inscribed to her husband, Frank Butler, by itsauthor, bandleader John Philip Sousa. Obtained with written provenance from a direct descendant ofAnnie Oakley’s niece.
1952 Bowman Mickey Mantle, PSA 7