Part II: The Case of the Diddled Daguerreotype
As if by design, once solved, the mystery remains a mystery, but here goes.
February 7th, during an episode of "Antique Roadshow", increasingly popular among the RV set, a rare daguerreotype of Poe surfaced in the possesion of a perfectly benign old goose from the Nebraska heartland.
Sally Guest supposedly ran accross the old-time photo while foraging through a junk shop in the burgeoning Iowa antique belt (or black market as it were), and purchased it for 96 bucks. She claims to have had no idea of the subject.
This lady should serve as juror on the Michael Jackson case. If she doesn't know who Poe is or even looks like, she's certain to be impartial to Jackson's plight. Christ, short of Old Glory, there is nothing more recognizable to any blue-blooded American than Poe's bulbous forehead.
It's dificult to believe, but that's what she said, and when Antique Roadshow's announcer set the pricetag at a whopping $30,000 to $50,000, Sally's response was simply, "Wow."
Hmmm...
"Clap, clap, clap..."
But that's not the end of the show, folks.
You don't cash in on a picture of "the devil himself"* and then go quietly about your business. No, indeed!
It turns out the photo was lifted from the Hampden-Booth library located inside The Players, a stodgy Manhattan theatrical club founded in 1888 by none other than actor, Erwin Booth, the brother of legendary Lincoln assassin, John Wilkes Booth!!!
Creepy.
The story whirled round and round and round again into yet another association with "Poe Blog" when it was blown wide open by Michael Deas, New Orleans postage stamp artist, creator of Sony Pictures "Lady Columbia", and oddly enough, author of "The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allen Poe" circa 1988, an exhaustive study of every rendering ever of the literary giant; painted, daguerreotyped, or otherwise.
I'm afraid ol' flim-flamin' Sally "Pump Handle" Guest is playing with the big boys now. Time will tell if her corn-fed education will deliver her from this mess. They say her phone has been disconnected since the shit hit the fan.
Again- Hmmm...
Of, course the mystery we are left with is- How did this rare daguerreotype find its way from a Manhattan theatre of some significance to the meaningless antique bazaars of rural Iowa?
Was Edgar Allan Poe actually flexing his ectoplasm in homage to "Poe Blog w/Peter Francis", spinning one last mystery from beyond the grave for a couple of fellow scambibblers? Or is this old bird full of shit, and she really kyped the picture years ago during her psychedelic tenure in the Village, with hopes to parlay it into an early retirement many years down the road?
You decide.
*Charles Dickens of Edgar Allan Poe
February 7th, during an episode of "Antique Roadshow", increasingly popular among the RV set, a rare daguerreotype of Poe surfaced in the possesion of a perfectly benign old goose from the Nebraska heartland.
Sally Guest supposedly ran accross the old-time photo while foraging through a junk shop in the burgeoning Iowa antique belt (or black market as it were), and purchased it for 96 bucks. She claims to have had no idea of the subject.
This lady should serve as juror on the Michael Jackson case. If she doesn't know who Poe is or even looks like, she's certain to be impartial to Jackson's plight. Christ, short of Old Glory, there is nothing more recognizable to any blue-blooded American than Poe's bulbous forehead.
It's dificult to believe, but that's what she said, and when Antique Roadshow's announcer set the pricetag at a whopping $30,000 to $50,000, Sally's response was simply, "Wow."
Hmmm...
"Clap, clap, clap..."
But that's not the end of the show, folks.
You don't cash in on a picture of "the devil himself"* and then go quietly about your business. No, indeed!
It turns out the photo was lifted from the Hampden-Booth library located inside The Players, a stodgy Manhattan theatrical club founded in 1888 by none other than actor, Erwin Booth, the brother of legendary Lincoln assassin, John Wilkes Booth!!!
Creepy.
The story whirled round and round and round again into yet another association with "Poe Blog" when it was blown wide open by Michael Deas, New Orleans postage stamp artist, creator of Sony Pictures "Lady Columbia", and oddly enough, author of "The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allen Poe" circa 1988, an exhaustive study of every rendering ever of the literary giant; painted, daguerreotyped, or otherwise.
I'm afraid ol' flim-flamin' Sally "Pump Handle" Guest is playing with the big boys now. Time will tell if her corn-fed education will deliver her from this mess. They say her phone has been disconnected since the shit hit the fan.
Again- Hmmm...
Of, course the mystery we are left with is- How did this rare daguerreotype find its way from a Manhattan theatre of some significance to the meaningless antique bazaars of rural Iowa?
Was Edgar Allan Poe actually flexing his ectoplasm in homage to "Poe Blog w/Peter Francis", spinning one last mystery from beyond the grave for a couple of fellow scambibblers? Or is this old bird full of shit, and she really kyped the picture years ago during her psychedelic tenure in the Village, with hopes to parlay it into an early retirement many years down the road?
You decide.
*Charles Dickens of Edgar Allan Poe
posted by R.Chip DeGlinkta at 7:34 AM
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