Monday, October 31, 2011

Post Mortem






Exceptional 19th century post mortem daguerreotypes.

Available here.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Friday, October 28, 2011

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Stick Man


Circa 1900's stick pin of a black man with moving eyes and tongue.

Available at Hake's.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Carnival Face




A circa 1940's carnival ball toss board.

Measures 36" tall.

Available here.

An 1874 Victorian Bird Sarcophagus






Brass and marble mausoleum with date etched on one end and cross and anchor on the other end. There is a blue bird inside with a hand-written note which reads, "Our pet wech died Monday 19 1874 at 7:55 o'clock."

Available at Slotin.

Friday, October 21, 2011

"Sweet Hour of Prayer"






Early 20th century folk art carving of a woman in deep prayer, with the inscription "Sweet Hour of Prayer" on the pulpit.

Recently found in an old trunk on an Alabama plantation. Measures 9" tall.

"Sweet Hour of Prayer" was written in 1845 by a blind preacher named William Walford. The lyrics appeared in The New York Observer, September 13, 1845, with the following observation from a Thomas Salmon:

"During my re­si­dence at Coles­hill, War­wick­shire, Eng­land, I be­came ac­quaint­ed with W. W. Wal­ford, the blind preach­er, a man of ob­scure birth and con­nect­ions and no ed­u­ca­tion, but of strong mind and most re­ten­tive mem­o­ry. In the pul­pit he ne­ver failed to se­lect a less­on well adapt­ed to his sub­ject, giv­ing chap­ter and verse with un­err­ing pre­ci­sion and scarce­ly ev­er mis­plac­ing a word in his re­pe­ti­tion of the Psalms, ev­ery part of the New Tes­ta­ment, the pro­phe­cies, and some of the his­to­ries, so as to have the rep­u­ta­tion of “know­ing the whole Bi­ble by heart.” He ac­tu­al­ly sat in the chim­ney cor­ner, em­ploy­ing his mind in com­pos­ing a ser­mon or two for Sab­bath de­liv­ery, and his hands in cut­ting, shap­ing and po­lish­ing bones for shoe horns and other lit­tle use­ful im­ple­ments. At in­ter­vals he at­tempt­ed po­e­try. On one oc­ca­sion, pay­ing him a vi­sit, he re­peat­ed two or three piec­es which he had co­mposed, and hav­ing no friend at home to commit them to paper, he had laid them up in the store­house within. “How will this do?” asked he, as he re­peat­ed the fol­low­ing lines, with a com­pla­cent smile touched with some light lines of fear lest he sub­ject him­self to cri­ti­cism. I ra­pid­ly co­pied the lines with my pen­cil, as he ut­tered them, and sent them for in­ser­tion in the Ob­serv­er, if you should think them worthy of pre­ser­va­tion."

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

LIKE us on Facebook!


Anonymous Works has a new Facebook page!

I'll often be posting different stuff than what's on the blog, so it's another good place to waste your time...and if you're interested in this photo, it's available here.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Stunning



1931 Alfred Cheney Johnston photograph of Miss USA 1931, Ann Lee Patterson.

Available here.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Treat 'em Rough



World War II Plaque for the 191st Tank Battalion, Company D. Possibly adorning a tank?

Available here.

Pre-Balthus




The Pioneer Family
Oil on breadboard, signed "R. Kendall/Artist" lower right.
Label from the American Folk Art Gallery, New York
18 x 25 1/2"

Sold for $1,500.00 (w/o premium) at Stair Galleries.

Saturday, October 15, 2011