Worcester auction has historians and collectors abuzz
An extraordinary collection of items belonging to Worcester native Andrew Haswell Green — a visionary who helped remake New York City in the 19th century — will be sold this week in an unprecedented four-day auction at the DCU Center in Worcester. Among the thousands of documents, artworks, china, clothing, and toys being sold are handwritten correspondence to and from four presidents... From Green’s death in 1903 until 2009, virtually none of the items had ever been uncrated and examined. Packing boxes sealed more than a century ago were opened only after the death last summer of Julia Green, his great-great-grandniece and distant heiress. What was discovered has collectors and historians buzzing: an 1810 letter from President James Madison to James Monroe containing the first reference to a White House gardener, a rare 1850 daguerreotype of Green, and an 1875 George Inness oil painting of Mount Washington, among other treasures. It was a time capsule buried in plain sight for a hundred years. “In my 40 years in the auction business, I’ve never seen one person have so much damn stuff,’’ said Richard Oliver, who will preside over the auction.... The items carry no reserve prices — they’ll be sold to the highest bidder, period. “And that’s rare,’’ said Oliver, standing in Julia Green’s basement in Kennebunk, Maine, surrounded by 400 years of Green family history. Of the many public figures departing Massachusetts for New York over the years, from Babe Ruth to Bobby Kennedy, few are more significant than A.H. Green, whom Theodore Roosevelt once admiringly called “the Father of Greater New York City,’’ yet whose legacy has fallen into obscurity. Green spent his entire professional life in Manhattan, and his achievements were monumental. Last February, New York City set aside $4.5 million for an East River park memorializing A.H. Green. He oversaw the creation of Central Park and cultural initiatives leading to the establishment of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, and American Museum of Natural History. He was the first to recommend consolidation of the city’s five boroughs and as city comptroller fought against the corrupt political machine run by William “Boss’’ Tweed. At his family’s 600-acre Worcester estate, to which Green repaired regularly, he also amassed a museum-worthy collection of Americana. Green died violently at the age of 83, cut down by an assassin’s bullet in a case of mistaken identity. Unmarried and childless, he had bequeathed his estate to a nephew, Dr. Nathan Green. In 1905, Green’s family sold the Worcester estate to the city of Worcester, which turned it into a municipal park. In 1956 the estate’s sprawling mansion burned down. Fortunately, Nathan Green had long since put his uncle’s effects safely in storage. Upon his death, the storage containers, still mostly unopened, passed to Nathan’s son, Thomas Dudley Green, and eventually to his three children, one of whom was Julia Green. Julia, a museum professional whose employers included Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, neither married nor had children. Taking custody of the Green collection, she never seemed curious about its contents, either, according to her nephew John Green, a lobster dealer and restaurant owner in Kennebunk. Most artifacts, save for a few paintings and pieces of furniture, were kept sealed and stored in her Brookline home. After moving to Maine four years ago, Julia’s modest Kennebunk townhouse became the latest, and last, repository of the Green collection. It passed along to John and his sister upon their aunt’s death. “She could never have known the full contents, but she had a feel for its importance,’’ recalled John, showing a visitor a Civil War battle flag, two miniature swords, and a hand-embroidered man’s purse made in 1760. He began hiring experts to assess the collection a year ago. ..... In addition to more than 10,000 pieces of correspondence, the collection includes rare books and pamphlets, antique toys and games, Tiffany silver, vintage clothing, stamps, and coins. One of Green’s most prized works of art, a 1770 painting by Winthrop Chandler titled “General Timothy Ruggles estate in Hardwick, MA,’’ has been donated to the Worcester Art Museum, as stipulated in Julia’s will. The collection actually spans 10 generations, harking back to A.H. Green’s forebear Thomas Green, who died in 1667. Among the rarest items is Washington’s will, published in Worcester in 1800 by Isaiah Thomas, of which only 13 copies are known to exist. The cache of presidential letters came to Green through his friend John Cadwalader, a New York judge. One dated Jan. 16, 1820, was sent from Thomas Jefferson to President James Monroe, complaining about pestering letters Jefferson had been getting from an unnamed Revolutionary War officer. It is estimated to sell for $2,000 to $4,000. .... Estimates of individual auction items range from a low of $50 to $50,000 and up, yet even Oliver professes to have no idea what the four-day total might be or how many bidders may get involved, in person or online. Just last week, for instance, he came upon a 17th-century Hebrew book estimated to bring $200 to $400. Soon after the book’s description was posted on the auction website (www.rwolivers.com/green) Oliver received calls from Israel, Egypt, and France expressing interest in it. The book could now sell for 10 times his initial estimate, he said. John Green anticipates a total sale of $1 million or more. But to Bill Ralph, an Essex-based historian assisting with cataloging the collection, the significance of what has been preserved, coupled with the story behind its preservation, makes the auction about much more than money and memorabilia. For one thing, he says, it evokes fantasies of finding a Winslow Homer canvas at a roadside yard sale. “This is the fodder that keeps the antiques business going strong,’’ he said. “I hear the lament that there’s nothing new out there. But I tell people this was all packed up in 1905 and taken on this dilatory journey, and they’re amazed.’’ Joseph P. Kahn can be reached at jkahn@globe.com.  |
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