THE WALTER GLENN COLLECTION OF ART-DECO MEDALS

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V19 2016 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 19, Number 22, May 29, 2016, Article 16

I have eight of his interesting large cast bronze medals on my subsidiary website, "artdecomedals.com". They all came from the estate of Walter Glenn of Georgia, one of my favorite customers.

When the The E-Sylum graciously plugged my listings of Alex Shagin medals, a couple readers effected the much-desired change of ownership.

The tiny "mintages" obscure the fact that there is a marketplace in the work of contemporary medallic artists. I am pleased to take part in it, but Medialia Gallery --which you can visit when you come to NYC-- is the real player. The director/founder, Mashiko, is a real treasure of New York.

Paul has a great selection of medals from the Glenn collection on his site. Here's his commentary on Glenn (and collecting in general) followed by some selected pieces that caught my eye. -Editor

Walter Glenn (1937-2013) was an avid collector, and a particularly skilled one. He knew how to buy, which is not such a rare skill, but he also knew WHAT to buy.

It's little wonder that Walter –sometimes called “Pete” – had a keen eye (and not just for medals). For 30 years he operated an art jewelry gallery, “Geode Ltd”, in Atlanta. Later, he sold on eBay with the seller ID “100mph”. A specialized website “Objexs” is still up & running: http://www.objexs.com/ (open for how much longer?).

Known widely in the South as an expert in American Art Deco, and especially Frankart, I would see Walter on his frequent trips to NYC. Often, he’d have some friends assemble at my store, buying a few medals until everyone had arrived. These became social occasions for me, too. Probably because of the breadth of his interests, and the love he had for each piece he collected, there was no customer who was more pure fun than Walter was -- without being Italian. (I guess he came from a fun family; he had sister named Doodle. Really!)

Many of my customers for medals buy most of their best pieces from me. There are not that many good sources; those dealers and auction houses that happen to offer the occasional piece are not known for their expertise and helpfulness. eBay? PLEASE!!

Now that I have Walter's entire medals collection before me, it is evident that he could buy more widely than most collectors. Still, I have in front of me now many of the best Deco medals I ever had, pieces I started to miss the moment Walter bought them.

One Old Friend, the Sugar Refinery of Port Jerôme, a Top-Five candidate among all Art-Deco medals, I offered to Walter in the 1990s for $600. He passed. A week or so later he called and said, “You were right about that piece; will you hold it for me?” When you see the picture of this piece, you will realize that it is always best to listen to Bosco. Or perhaps better advice is: remember what you see, and where you saw it. Take notes, or pictures. When and if you realize you were crazy not to buy a piece, it would be good to be able to do something about it. And remember this: (Bosco's Law of Dumb Thrift) You will regret something you DIDN’T BUY ten times as often as you’ll regret something you DID BUY.

Not every piece in the collection will make it to this webpage, but we will try, over several months, to present enough of the collection to show the current generation of medals enthusiasts some of the parameters and possibilities of collecting.

Great advice - we've all had non-buyer's remorse. When rarities are gone they're gone for a very long time, and you may not get a second chance at any price.

OK - here are a few of my favorites. -Editor