MANCHESTER, VT. — Nathan Auction & Real Estate sold the collection of 55 Native American rugs and 25 selected works of art from the collections of Bruce Laumeister and Elizabeth Small in an online timed auction through Invaluable that closed on June 3. Leading the lots was a large, exhibition-quality Navajo “Whirling Logs” rug in brown tones, circa 1910s, 124 by 72 inches, that realized $5,166, including premium. All of the rugs sold. Laumeister and Small were the founders of the Bennington Center for the Arts, which recently changed hands. The center’s Navajo rugs and paintings — all with women as subjects — have been a significant part of the permanent collection and on display in the museum galleries since it was built in the early 1990s. The Whirling Log symbol has its origins in Navajo sand paintings as a sacred symbol for healing. In the Navajo language it translates to, “that which revolves.” It comes from a story of an outcast who decides to climb into a log and float down the river to a distant land where he might find peace and safety. A later issue will discuss additional highlights from this sale.