$29,375
Sand Picture in a Bottle with Paddle Wheeler Gray Eagle and Eagle and Flag, Andrew Clemens, McGregor, Iowa, c. 1885, multicolored sand arranged in a glass bottle, one side of the bottle portraying the steam paddle wheel vessel Gray Eagle the reverse depicting an eagle in flight and an American flag flanked by several multicolored and shaped borders, the top affixed with Clemen's worn printed paper label, ht. 9 1/8 in. Note: Andrew Clemens was born in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1857. At the age of five he became deaf and mute after an illness. He earned his livelihood by painstakingly arranging colored sand to make pictures in glass bottles. The sand came from the naturally colored sandstone in the Pictured Rocks area of Iowa. He worked in McGregor, Iowa, and for a short time he made and exhibited his work at South Side Museum, a dime museum in Chicago, Ill. He died in 1894 at the age of 37 years.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2007-11-04
