Rare 1880\'s W.H. Mullins Historical Artifact Denver Courthouse Griffin Sculpture
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Rare 1880\'s W.H. Mullins Historical Artifact Denver Courthouse Griffin Sculpture:
$240000.00
CLICK HERE for the video
...Please click and watch enclosed video link, for more pictures and important information..... This wonderful find truly deserves to be in a museum in the Denver area, or a like setting in Colorado.
It HAS to be one of the Crown Jewel\'s of Denver, Colorado\'s colorful and historical past history. This is more than likely the only remaining one of eight original Griffin sculptures left in existence, that once graced the top of the old Arapahoe County (now Littleton Co) Courthouse, in Denver Colorado. The building was built in 1883, and torn down in 1933. It\'s a shame that this beautiful building was demolished, it was really a site to behold. This Griffin might also be the only important piece of the iconic courthouse left remaining, and I would really love to see it returned to this great city. I have searched for the last few years on the internet, to find another one of the original eight Griffins,
and there is none. As a matter of fact, I don\'t think there are any more of this particular, early version design Griffin, made by the W.H. Mullin\'s Company, left anywhere. From corresponding with Carol A. Grissom, the Senior Objects Conservator of the Smithsonian Institution, the foremost leading authority and author of the \"Bible\" and definitive book on these sheet zinc sculpture works of art, (\"Zinc Sculpture in America 1850-1950\"), she said she had never seen or even known of the existence of this particular design Griffin, that was made by the W. H. Mullins Company.. But that she had worked on and restored their later versions of sheet metal Griffins, from the 1890\'s. A copy of her emails are included with this sale. One example she and her team at the Smithsonian Institute restored, is the one that graces the top of Washington\'s Corcoran Museum of Art. A photo is shown in the book she wrote, and is included..
You can also do a search online and see the example. Her huge and outstanding, 706 plus pages, hardback book, goes with this sale, as well as the 196 plus page book, 1887 reprint of the Bakewell & Mullins
\"Victorian Architectural Sheet-Metal Ornaments\" catalog, which shows our Griffin likeness, on page 31.. It lists the price at $100. dollars..
Also included with this sale, is a hardback notebook filled with all the information and pictures, framed and original photographs, etc. that I have of the Griffin, and the Arapahoe County Courthouse, that I have gathered thru the years. They can all be seen in the video link provided in this sale.
Also, and the provenance and how I acquired this Griffin from Denver. From what I can figure out, there weren\'t that many of this design Griffin ever made in the first place. With this particular design, the Griffin\'s had weak areas, with the large wings projecting out from the body, as well as the fragile designed curved tail. You can see where this Griffin has been repaired in years past. These old building \"toppers\" were under a lot of wind stress, as well as the snow, rain and the blazing sun, and even vandals with their guns, siting high on the top of court houses and other important buildings. The later 1890\'s design have the sheet zinc Griffins in a very compact stance, with the wings and tail in a tucked in position, unlike the earlier ones, which were more fragile with their extended wings and tail..
In the pictures below, is the later 1890\'s \"compact\" version of the Griffins, shown atop the Washington Corcoran Museum of Art.. It must have been a really harrowing experience for the workman to go high up on the courthouse building to maintain this Griffin. So it\'s amazing this example survived at all.
As you can see, there are a few small pieces missing under the wings, as well as both the front paws.
The tail was also missing, as well as part of the horn on it\'s head. We did the best we could in replacing them, but they are not professionally done. Although we think we did a good job, you could have them re-done by a true professional metal artisan if you wanted, working in this hammered sheet zinc medium.
The replacement tail we made is not zinc tin, and is not fastened to the Griffin sculpture, except by a thin wire. The front paws we made are also not zinc tin, but look nice, as we hired a very talented artist to paint them to match the original patina.. Same way with part of the horn on top of the Griffin\'s head. Not only is this Griffin an important artifact of Denver\'s past, it is also a highly sought after collectible in it\'s own right, having been made by the W.H. Mullin\'s Co of Salem, Ohio. There is a big demand for important works such as this, from the Mullin\'s workshop.. Christie\'s sale House sold a W. H. Mullin\'s \"molded copper leaping stag, circa 1893-1896\" for $ 262,400. dollars, back in 2005 (lot 380, sale 1474)... And Christie\'s also sold a W.H. Mullin\'s \"life-size steer\" back in 2007, for $ 493,000. dollars. And to me, this Griffin puts both of them to shame. I personally feel that this work of art should be valued in the $ 500,000. to $1,000,000. dollars range, maybe a lot more, at the right sale, and at the right time. Not only is this Griffin more impressive than the stag and the steer in it\'s imposing looks, and unusual subject matter, it actually has great historical significance and provenance. This Griffin originally set on a sandstone base, as you can see in the original photographs. These are long gone, so we made a special wooden stand, with a rough textured faux sandstone finish, that very closely resembles the original base. The base is in two interlocking sections, for ease in getting thru doors,
and it was also made this way, to fit on my personal tiered fireplace hearth. My hope is that someone with a lot more money than us, buys this and donates it (in their name) to the City of Denver, and surely this person could even use the donation as a \"write off\" on their taxes. The opportunity to own this magnificent work of art is now, once it\'s sold, it\'s doubtful there will ever be another chance.. The way that I acquired this Griffin, was a friend of mine, (now deceased), used to live in Denver, and worked at some of the antique shops there, before owning his own antique shop, Country Club Antiques. He also frequented all the sales, antique shows, flea and swap meets there. Since he was a very friendly person, he had a lot of friends and contacts, and came across the piece I now have. The old man that sold it to him, told him that the large zinc \"Griffin\" figure came off the top of the old Arapahoe County Courthouse, which was torn down in the 1930\'s. (built in 1883, and torn down in 1933) My friend bought or traded it from him, I don\'t remember which, and eventually moved here to my neighborhood, where I met him for the first time. I fell in love with the piece immediately when he showed it to me, and was finally able to purchase it. When he first told me about it a few years ago, we searched for a photo of it on the building, on the internet, but with no luck.. Although one photograph looked like it had the Griffins on top, the picture was not clear, and we couldn\'t enlarge it . A few months ago, I began searching again for a photo of the Griffin, and have been VERY fortunate in finding some great shots of it. I will enclose a few of them here in this sale. The public library in Denver has some very high resolution photos of the Denver courthouse online, that can easily enlarged.As you know, provenance is KEY to an historical artifact, and this item is loaded with it. We found online a receipt from the Denver courthouse, where they paid the W.H.Mullins Company, a total of $16,255.93 dollars, for their work on part of the remodeling work of the courthouse and post office. This is dated Sept. 30, 1890, during the remodeling of the courthouse, and when the Griffins were first put into place.
The Griffins were not in place the first 7 years of the courthouse\'s life. A copy of this receipt is included. The overall height of this masterpiece, sitting on the base, is just under 8 feet tall (92 1/2 inches).
The widest part of the wooden black base unit measures 26 inches, and the depth of the black base is 39 inches.. From tip to tip of the top part of the wings measures 38 inches. (The tiles on the floor that the base is sitting on are 14 inches wide for a size scale comparison). My 6\' 2\" son is shown standing next to it, to also show the scale of the Griffin. Also, my son and I will personally rent a small moving van, and deliver this Griffin ourselves to the winner of this sale sale at no cost to you (after payment clears, and in the lower 48 states, maybe even Canada). And you can rest assured, it will be handled and secured, and protected with the utmost of care that it deserves. Or naturally, you can come to our location in South East Texas and get it, or arrange your own shipping if you wish. Please contact us for payment instructions before offerding. If you have any questions, or hopefully any more information to share with us about Denver\'s Arapahoe County Courthouse or the Griffins or the W.H. Mullins Company, it will be greatly appreciated, and you can email us here, or thru our website at www.StanleyCabinets.net; , or call us at [phone removed by ] from appx. 6:30 to 2:30 Monday thru Friday.. Central Time , and ask for Lon or Billy Stanley .......THANKS, and good luck. CLICK HERE for the video
Rare 1880\'s W.H. Mullins Historical Artifact Denver Courthouse Griffin Sculpture:
$240000.00