Donating to a worthy cause

The bid sheet said it all. Back and forth, back and forth, the two women had gone at it, both wanting this loving lithograph of a mother and daughter at the piano.

I understood their fixation. When I first saw the piece at auction a few months ago, I was just as enamored with it. I get so tired of seeing old postcards and advertisements of black people dressed ragged and looking forlorn, with their lips stained red and somewhere nearby, a watermelon – the albatross of our being.

So, to see a contemporary print of an African American mother and daughter looking like any other mother and daughter moved me to bid on the print. It also kept me bidding against one other person until I got it. That person, an auction regular, apologized later; he didn’t know I was the one he was bidding against. Had he known, he said, he would have stopped. That’s what I love about auctions; people can sometimes be so kind to each other.

He understood what the image meant to me, just as I understood its importance to the women who were seriously – but in a friendly girlfriend way – one-upping each other at a silent auction last weekend.

It started out congenially – they both wrote their names and then their bids, with Linda starting at $65. Off and on as the bids progressed, they kidded and chided each other. Each marked up the bid sheet with indecipherable arrows pointing to their names a few rows above. The rest of us looked on in amusement.

By the sixth bid at $125, one had written: “Linda rules!” The other wasn’t about to be bullied, upping the bid: “Lorraine the trailblazer.” Unfazed, Linda kept going: “Linda rules.”

And so she did. She won the lithograph on canvas titled “Rhapsody of Love.”

They were participating in a silent auction of items I had donated to the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists during its annual awards ceremony Saturday. Lorraine the trailblazer was Lorraine Branham, dean and professor of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She had just received the PABJ 2011 Trailblazer Award.

Each year, the organization honors journalists and community activists for their work. Among the recipients this year were Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, founders of Philadelphia International Records – our East Coast Motown – for Community Service. Gamble has become just as well known in the city for revitalizing his South Philadelphia community by renovating houses and assisting the schools. Meanwhile, Huff has been working to enhance his hometown of Camden, NJ, just beyond the Delaware River.

PABJ has held its silent auction for years, receiving donations from businesses and other enterprises. The most expensive item sold at the auction was a pair of Southwest Airline tickets valued at $800. The bidding was also intense, and they sold for $450. That was a buy.

The idea of my donating items came during a conversation with some friends after an Easter dinner. One suggested it and I thought it was a wonderful idea. I had several items at home that would work, and I was sure that I’d come across others over the ensuing weeks.

And I did: several prints, a lovely Lenox trinket box in celadon green (I was used to seeing Lenox in cream but never in this gorgeous color), signed planters that the auctioneer said had been made by a local artist, straw hats, Stangl dinnerware.

As I prepared for the auction, I wanted my items to be more than just stuff on a table. I wanted a presentation that would inform the buyers of the stories and history behind them. So I researched them all, and wrote the information on cards that I displayed alongside each item on the tables. I saw these as an extension of my blog Auction Finds.

I kept the starting prices low and affordable. I also kept urging people to bid so I wouldn’t have to take the stuff back home. I felt like one of the auction-house auctioneers browbeating people to participate.

Here’s a sampling of the items that attracted bids. The items sold for a total of $505.

Stangl bowl & 2 plates, Bella Rosa pattern

This Stangl pattern was created in the 1950s by one of the company’s most renowned and best-known artists, Kay Hackett. Stangl is known for its handpainted dinnerware and collectible birds. It was founded in 1814 as Hill Pottery in Flemington, NJ, then became Fulper Pottery and then Stangl. It closed in 1978.

One bidder really wanted this bowl for her mother, whose name is Rosa. Unfortunately, someone else wanted it more.

Stangl Granada Gold Elephant Figurine

This Stangl elephant has a 22k-gold finish and was made in the 1950s. It is unmarked (like most of the others like it), but it is product #5231.

It was purchased by none other than a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. The elephant is the unofficial symbol of the sorority. The story is that Florence Letcher Toms, one of the founding members (it got started in 1913), collected elephants and members do the same in her honor.

K. McLean, untitled oil on canvas of an African or Caribbean woman

I could find nothing on the web about this artist.

Charly Palmer, “Guardian Angel,” lithograph on canvas

An Atlanta artist, Charly Palmer has been called a visual historian who tells the stories of African Americans in this country. His works are in the collections of the Atlanta Life Insurance Co., the Apex Museum in Atlanta, and the homes of husband-and-wife actors Angela Bassett and Courtney Vance, and activist and statesman Andrew Young.

Stangl serving bowl, Carnival pattern

This Stangl pattern was also designed by Kay Hackett. It was known as “K’s Carnival,” and was produced from 1954-1957.

The woman who missed out on the Bella Rosa pattern did get this one. I thought the piece, with the pink and green colors of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, would entice one of its member to bid.

 

Herbie Rose, “Country Market”

A native of Port Antonio, Jamaica, Herbie Rose opened a gallery in his hometown in 1968. His oil and acrylic paintings portrayed the people and scenes in the area. He later migrated to Bradenton/Sarasota, Fla., where his works embodied Florida themes with a Caribbean touch.

Here’s a sampling of items that were not sold, some of which may end up on the PABJ website for sale:

Lenox trinket box, celadon green color

This glazed box has a stylish bone handle and gold strip. It has a gold Lenox logo on the bottom, indicating that it was produced after 1955.

2 Native American-style coiled and lidded storage baskets

The large basket has a Chevron or herringbone pattern of zigzags. Antique baskets like these were used to store food year-round. The small basket has a tight weave with red and green designs. It is a nice basket for storing trinkets or jewelry.

Caribbean parade, untitled oil on canvas

This painting is one of my favorites. It is signed but I could not decipher the signature.

Telford Emmanuel, untitled oil on canvas

I could find very little on this Haitian artist.

Saks Fifth Avenue milan straw hat (with matching smaller hat)

This hat was made in the 1950s under the label New York Creation, which represented members of the New York Dress Institute. The organization was formed in 1940 to promote the city as the country’s fashion center. The label says the hat is genuine milan, a classic hand-braided wheat straw with a soft golden hue.