$30 estate sale find sells for $1,352,600

Modern(ish)

A painting by figurative painter Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-77) bought at Michigan estate sale last year for $30 has sold at auction for $1,352,600. The final price exceeded the high pre-sale estimate of $200,000 by more than six times and set a new world record price for the artist.

Gertrude Abercrombie was a self-taught artist. Her degree was in Romance languages and she was working in advertising when she began to paint during World War II. Abercrombie’s work quickly received positive reviews from critics and galleries and she got her first one woman show at the Chicago Art Institute in 1944.

The 8×11-inch oil on masonite painting entitled Alderman Merriam’s Shells was made in late 1951. Robert Merriam was the alderman of the Chicago neighborhood where Abercrombie lived and photos from the period indicate she was a friend of the family. Merriam loaned her some shells from his collection which she painted in an abstract, surreal space.

Shortly after she painted it, Abercrombie gave the work to Dr. John T. Reynolds of Kalamazoo, Michigan, as payment for an operation he performed on her in early 1952. By April, Reynolds had begun loaning it for exhibition in several contemporary art galleries in New York, Chicago and Milwaukee. In a Chicago Tribune article about her one-woman show there, Abercrombie described her approach:

“I like to paint mysteries or fantasies — things that are real in the mind, but not real in the ordinary sense of the word. I’m not interested in complicated or commonplace subjects. Instead, I like to paint simple things that are a little strange.”

The sea shells fit this esthetic to a tee, simple but captured in meticulous detail and in impossible positions that sets each of their individual features off to the best advantage. The shells themselves were at Chicago show with the painting and the subjects and portrait were photographed together in the Chicago Tribune.

Alderman Merriam’s Shells was offered for sale at several of the galleries where it was shown in 1952 and 1953 at prices ranging from $50 to $150. Nobody bought it then, and Dr. Reynolds kept it until his death. It was at the sale of his estate that the current seller spotted it as the bargain of a lifetime. Pretty crazy that it would sell for just 30 bucks 70 years after it was priced at 50 bucks when the artist was still living.

Seal ring with Lighthouse found in Alexandria

Ancient

A unique bronze seal ring engraved with a depiction of the famed Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, has been discovered in the city’s harbour. It is the first depiction of the Lighthouse ever found on a seal ring.

Underwater archaeologists found the ring in an exploration of the submerged royal island of Antirhodos which was part of ancient Alexandria’s Eastern Harbour. The discovery location is significant because Antirhodos was the site of a Ptolemaic royal palace documented by geographer Strabo when he visited Alexandria between 29 and 25 B.C.

Other objects recovered near the ring include pottery, glass, tableware, amphorae, bottles, lamps and other utilitarian objects dating from the 4th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built on the island of Pharos at the entrance to the Portus Magnus, the great harbor, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus in the 3rd century B.C. It consisted of three levels: a square base, an octagonal body and a circular tower topped with the great fire. The flames were fueled by wood and resin, and amplified by metal mirrors. It could be seen from at least two dozen miles away and guided ships navigating the coast safely into the harbour.

It was a symbol of Alexandria and its commercial success, and an acknowledged architectural masterpiece. Depictions of it appeared on coins in the Ptolemaic era and under Roman imperial rule. The image engraved on the ring is similar to the depictions of the Lighthouse on 2nd century coins, so archaeologists have tentatively dated the ring to that period.

Fine glassware found in graves from Late Antiquity in Troyes

Ancient

An excavation in the city of Troyes in northeastern France has unearthed three burials from Late Antiquity with well-preserved grave goods, including intact glass vessels. The fine glassware is an extremely rare find in the area.

A team from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) excavated the site on the bank of the Vienne River prior to construction of a new housing development. They found the remains of a post-built settlement from early antiquity (1st century A.D.) that was protected by a sturdy ditched wall. A large palisade divided the settlement, and most of the 300 domestic structures unearthed were on the east side.

There’s evidence of a second phase of construction in which masonry buildings were raised next to the post-built ones. Tegulae, roof tiles, and hypocaust tile pillars confirm masonry construction of urban buildings, and judging from the profusion of metal artifacts like coins, fibulae and furniture fittings, the town was well-populated and prosperous.

Local pottery at the feet of the deceased. Photo courtesy Elsa Chiron, INRAP.The three burials were discovered outside the ditched perimeter of the settlement. They date to the late 3rd or early 4th century A.D. They were dug very closely together and contain the skeletal remains of an adult woman, a child and a second adult whose bones are too degraded to determine their sex. Archaeologists believe it was a family grouping.

One of the adults was buried with glass vessels around their head. Two of the vessels are cylindrical and with thin glass walls. An intact pot-bellied amphora was found at the feet of the deceased. It was locally made and of good quality.

The site appears to have been abandoned after Late Antiquity, although the excavation did uncover a small group of huts from the turn of the 11th/12th century just to the north of the ancient town. There was a well and a silo, so it seems to have been a small community, although it’s not possible to tell from the sparse artifacts how long it was inhabited.

Rare 4,000-year-old cist grave found in Norway

Ancient

What at first sight looked like an ancient firepit has proven to be a rare 4,000-year-old stone cist grave in Halden, southeastern Norway. It is one of only about 20 stone cists found in Norway, in contrast to Sweden where 2,000 are known, and this is the only ever to be excavated by professional archaeologists.

Just a few miles from the border with Sweden, the area is slated for development into a new industrial park. Archaeologists are excavating the site to document and recover everything they can find before construction begins. The team uncovered some stones sticking up out of the soil, and a charcoal layer which suggested to them it was an ancient firepit. It was only when they removed some of the stones that they saw the stone slab sides of a cist grave.

The cist was built using stone slabs weighing hundreds of pounds with wedges driven down into the corners to create an in-ground coffin. The stone slabs are neatly placed and carefully wedged to keep them stable. Small, smooth stones were used to line the bottom of the grave creating a floor.

No traces of human remains were found inside the grave. Comparable examples have contained the skeletal remains of young men, some showing evidence of battle injuries. They were buried with daggers and arrowheads, suggesting they may have been warriors in life. The Halden cist did contain an arrowhead, but no daggers. They also found one amber bead and a fragment of corded ware pottery.

Archaeologists believe the deceased was likely a local resident, perhaps a farmer. To answer some of the questions about the grave and its owner, archaeologists are employing an experimental technique: they will be extracting DNA from soil samples. The body has decomposed, but the soil it decomposed into is still there and still retains traces of DNA. Archaeologists hope they’ll be able to find out more about the deceased from those traces.

The Cultural History Museum is now discussing the fate of the cist grave with Østfold County Council. The debate is whether it should be allowed to remain in situ so that people can visit it in its original location, or recovered and reconstructed inside the museum.

Korea’s oldest known firearm found in landmine search

Medieval

A small bronze artifact discovered during a search for landmines on South Korea’s Geumseongsan Mountain has been identified as Korea’s oldest gunpowder weapon. The discovery rewrites Korea’s weaponry history, predating the previous oldest firearm by at least 120 years, and possibly 180 years.

It was discovered in November 2023 by a soldier detecting landmines at the site of a planned hiking trail at the summit of the mountain. The area has been restricted since 1966 when an anti-aircraft battery was installed there, and the military has been clearing landmines to make it safe for the general public again. The object was found just four inches deep beneath a rock.

Known as a Hwangja Hwatong, meaning “Yellow-Character Hand Cannon,” the weapon is a cylinder that balloons out three thirds of the way down and ends in a slightly trumpet terminal that is a little wider in diameter that the straight cylindrical end. It is 23.75cm (9.35 inches) long with a bore diameter of 1.66 cm (.65 inches) and weighs 2.8 lbs. The trumpet end would have been mounted to the end of a long wooden staff and the device packed with gunpowder and a projectile (arrows or bullets) to fire out of the muzzle.

The handle and muzzle are inscribed with 28 characters that describe its manufacture in detail. The inscription reads: “In the 12th month of the Jeongsa year, the Hwangja Hwatong was made. It weighs one geun and 14 nyang. The supervising official was registrar An Hyu-bo, and the craftsman was Seok.” This is the first small gunpowder weapon found in Korea that is inscribed with its type name, production date, weight, plus the names of the government production manager and of the craftsman who cast it.

The inscription dates the weapon to a Jeongsa year, narrowing its creation to either December 1377 or December 1437. In 1377, the Goryeo Dynasty established its first state arms agency under the famed inventor Choe Mu-seon to counter naval raids by Japanese pirates. If it was forged in 1437, it originates from the golden age of King Sejong the Great, who spearheaded major artillery standardization.

Either timeline solidifies the hand cannon as the earliest verifiable firearm ever found on the Korean peninsula.

X-ray and metallurgical analyses revealed the cannon was cast from a traditional bronze alloy of copper, tin and lead. Researchers noted that the tin content was kept strictly below 10 percent — a precise engineering choice designed to give the barrel enough ductility to withstand explosive internal pressure without shattering. Residual traces of silver and sulfur further confirmed medieval smelting techniques rather than a modern reproduction.

The Hwangja Hwatong is now on display to the public for the first time at the National Palace Museum of Korea through November 22nd.