John Henry Kurtz Auction

[DougCooper]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Before he passed, John Henry was working on a deal with the US Army to buy his entire collection - he did want to keep it together! The Army ran out of money last year and may have purchased it this year, but the collection was passed to his brother when he died, who decided to auction it off.
Elizabeth

Sounds like John Henry. Sure do miss him.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Dean,

Fantastic information, thank you very much for sharing!!!

[Canebrake Rifle Guards]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Before he passed, John Henry was working on a deal with the US Army to buy his entire collection - he did want to keep it together! The Army ran out of money last year and may have purchased it this year, but the collection was passed to his brother when he died, who decided to auction it off.
Elizabeth

The Army really wanted to buy it. The fellow that tried to make it work is an old colleague of mine. Typically government agencies are not prepared for such large aquisitions, but when JH decided to try to work a sale, Carlisle Barricks hunted around their budget and found money that could properly be used to acqure the collection. However they were not able to consumate the deal within that fiscal year, and as you know, unspent budget money is generally taken away. So when JH was ready to make the deal, it was a new fiscal year and the money they had potenially to buy the collection was now gone. JH passed away and the collection devolved to his brother.

Greg Starbuck

[Uncle Pig]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Interesting that in this post:

http://historical.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=6015&Lot_No=57308

The men are wearing Canada hats that are normaly associated with Michigan units but they are lister as the 6th Maine?

Also Found this one:

http://historical.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=6015&Lot_No=57651

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Never mind the hats, check out the form on that Support Arms!

Obsessed much? You bet.

[Slouch]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

I went to the auction last Friday. It was NUTS! Most items were inside of displays, but they would take anything you wanted out of the case for you to hold, unfold, measure, photograph, etc. I had the feeling they would have let me try on the original frock coats had I asked . The auction staff were very cooporative. They gave us free auction cataloges, one from the Thursday and Friday auctions. They are just as nice as Echo's of Glory.

[garyjd]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

I too was able to see the preview for the lots and it was pretty breathtaking seeing so many great things all at once. I'm sure most of this stuff will now disappear into private collections. ~Gary

[bizzilizzit]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Before he passed, John Henry was working on a deal with the US Army to buy his entire collection - he did want to keep it together! The Army ran out of money last year and may have purchased it this year, but the collection was passed to his brother when he died, who decided to auction it off.
Elizabeth

From what I've been told, the US Army was able to purchase quite of bit of John Henry's collection, so some of it may end up on display, somewhere, at some point, for others to enjoy.
Elizabeth Topping

[Son of Eire]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Anyone take photographs at the auction that they'd care to share?

[Blanket Head]

Re: John Henry Kurtz Auction

Elizabeth,
Unfortunately you are incorrect in the statement that US Army was able to purchase some items from the Kurtz collection. I work for the Museum (the Army Heritage Museum) at Carlisle that was in the process of working the possible donation from John Henry. And as previously mentioned we were unable to come up with the funds he was requesting. We were able however to see the entire collection first hand (and even had a couple of pieces of headgear on exhibit for three months) before handing it back over. It was indeed a one of a kind collection that probably would have been best suited in the public's domain for the rest of eternity; but alas red tape can always be a killer.

Regards,

Kaleb Dissinger