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A Special Year for a Special Event
BHSSF Old West Cowboy Collectibles Auction Marks 10th Year
Rapid City, SD -- There’s
not too many places a person can go to watch the public exchange of history -
real history in the tangible form of cowboy and western memorabilia.
But that’s exactly what you can expect at the Black
Hills Stock Show Foundation’s Cowboy Collectibles Auction.
More of an ‘event’ than a sale, this is a special
year as organizers celebrate the auction’s 10th year and reflect on the
continuing popularity of an auction that draws buyer’s from across the
country.
“We started this on a handshake and our word,”
recalls Win Bauer. “That’s how it remains today, an honest sale with honest
items. That’s important in the world of collectors and just as importantly
to us, the stockman who knows what’s what in the cowboy memorabilia arena.”
Having outgrown it’s original location in the upper
level of the Civic Center, it now takes an entire theatre to produce the auction
that is filled with people and the items they come to see.
“It’s unique to this sale, where we see the spectator as much as the buyer
in the seats. This auction puts great pieces of history up for display.”
Among them are legendary saddle and spur makers, chaps
and bits; books and paintings, movie posters, Civil War and Cavalry items and
guns. And everything in between it would seem. Where else are you going to
find a Gene Autry pocketknife next to a classic nude often seen gracing the back
bar of local saloon in a long ago cowtown.
Bauer is quick to point to another unique aspect of the
cowboy auction. In creating the auction, Foundation directors Bruce Blair,
Piedmont, SD, and Jay George, Rapid City, felt that the event could serve
to expose a wide audience to the goals of the Foundation, among them to create
and grow and a strong scholarship program.
“We don’t expect collector’s to donate
items to this auction,” says Blair. “Win and Jay spend all year searching
for pieces to add to this sale. What is donated in full, and what makes this
auction unique to any other in the country, is that the commissions are donated
in full.”
The stage will literally be set Friday, February 6 in
the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Theater where the 275 lots can be previewed and
a social setting enjoyed. It gets more serious on sale day Saturday,
February 7 with an early morning preview beginning at 8:30 and the sale getting
underway at 10 a.m.
There are so many highlights to this year’s sale
it’s hard to know where to begin. Saddles by Duhamel (including a rare
Ackerman Duhamel), Miles City Saddlery, Furstnow, George Lawrence and Collins
& Morrison are in the offering.
As are Crockett and McChesney bits and a rare find from
Wyoming spur maker, Rex Schnitger, along with a set of Arizona Territorial
Prison spurs. Add Buermann, North & Judd, and Kelley and there’s no
shortage of hardware.
Brand books dating back to 1903 from the Northwestern
Stockgrowers Association join the Sweeney Hardware (a 1878 mainstreet business
in Rapid City) Collection that includes a pair of stamped spur straps.
Matter-of-fact is how you’d best characterize Bauer
so when he uses the word “fantastic” it’s best to pay attention.
That’s how he describes guns consigned to the sale that include a Winchester
Model 1873 Indian gun from the Pine Ridge and an 1881 Colt Peacemaker 4440.
A turn of the century desk accessory that features ink
wells and bronze cast buffalo is among other unique items as are Plains Indians
beadwork in children’s mocassins and dance cups.
Americana is every where, from bearskin coats to Casey
Tibbs memorabilia; from chuckwagon coffee pots to a children’s Viewmaster with
Hop Along Cassidy.
Special guests at this year’s auction include
auctioneer’s Doug Strotheide and Jack Hunter who have donated 100 percent of
their time and talent every year to the sale. “You know we’d like to
host those two who have done so much with the opportunity to sit back and
relax,” says Foundation President Joe Norman. “But they’ll be
working as usual, and not without our sincere thanks and appreciation.”
Also joining this year’s auction are folks from Flat
Creek Saddle Shop, Jackson Hole, Wyo. who when the Foundation’s collectibles
auction was in its fifth year, donated a commemorative bit and this year are
coming with a set of custom made, 1/1 Les Vogt/Flat Creek commemorative spurs.
“It’s not all about merchandising,” says Bauer.
“The Foundation’s collectibles auction furnishes access to real pieces of
the Old West and its history. That’s a treasure, in and of itself.”
To see a complete list of auction items, go on line to
BHSSF.com
For more information, contact the Foundation at
605-718-0810 or email Foundation@BHSSF.com
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