Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 164 27 Aug 2022
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Frossard's Very Rare and Controversial Offering of Works by John Trumbull
Frossard, Ed. THE TRUMBULL GALLERY. EARLIEST WORKS OF JOHN TRUMBULL. ORIGINAL STUDIES, DRAWN IN INDIA INK ON VELLUM, COMPRISING GROUPS, PORTRAITS, AND MINIATURES OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, THE GENERALS, STATESMEN AND CELEBRITIES OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD, ALSO PEN AND INK PORTRAITS OF DISTINGUISHED INDIVIDUALS, PRECIOUS MEMENTOES OF WASHINGTON AND HIS GENERALS, A SAMPLER BY MARTHA WASHINGTON, ETC., ETC., ETC., FORMING TOGETHER A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY PIECES, COLLECTED AND NOW FOR SALE. Boston: T.R. Marvin & Son, 1894. 8vo, original printed card covers printed in blue. 28, (2) pages; 160 listings. Contemporary signature of S.R. Koehler on front cover, with his diminutive stamp on the inside front cover. Fine or very nearly so. Adams 128. Very rare, being the only copy we have sold besides the copy included in Frossard's own set of his catalogues (sold in Kolbe Sale 93, the Ford Library, as lot 484); even the comprehensive John W. Adams Library did not include this. Frossard's catalogues of art purporting to be from the archives of Revolutionary-era artist John Trumbull are all rare, and while they are not numismatic, they are important. There are at least four publications in this series: in 1982, Adams listed an 1894 fixed-price list assigned No. 128 in the Frossard series as well as an auction dated March 19-20, 1896 constituting No. 137. Frossard's own set of his catalogues, preserved by Hiram Deats and later in the John J. Ford Library, included an April 1894 Catalogue of the Trumball Collection of Original Studies in India Ink ... of the Revolutionary Period... assigned No. 127A by Kolbe (though 128A would be a better identification in this cataloguer's opinion). Earlier, Kolbe Sale 70 had included a slight, 8-page offering constituting Part II of the Frossard Revolutionary Collection, Comprising Original Miniatures on Ivory by the Celebrated American Artist Colonel John Trumbull... (lot 1642). That Part II to Adams No. 137 (date-stamped by the recipient February 18, 1897) was somehow missed when compiling the 2001 Additions & Corrections supplement to Adams Volume I, despite the fact that Adams had purchased the copy in question. We have assigned that issue Adams No. 137A. Both Adams 128 and 137 exist in versions printed on thick paper and with two plates--both turned up in Frossard's own set in the Ford Library, but they remain the only plated copies of which we are aware. Frossard's offering of this collection of material attributed by him to John Trumbull is controversial. As Adams related in his introduction to Frossard in United States Numismatic Literature: For all his charm and erudition, it would be wrong to paint Frossard without his warts. One can forgive his occasional mistakes, such as his "discovery" of a Novum Belgium piece which turned out to be a Betts fabrication; no cataloguer is perfect. One can also forgive his waspishness, its being born, no doubt, out of a perennial envy of others' commercial success. However, it is difficult to account for his handling of a large collection of John Trumbull material, offered in Sale one hundred twenty-eight and Sale one hundred thirty-seven. Theodore Sizer, in Volume XXII of the Princeton University Library Chronicles, describes this collection as a "massive deliberate fraud." He asserts that Frossard was involved in the fabrication of the material as well as in its disposition. If Frossard was guilty as charged, the temptation must have been great indeed. His behavior in the field of numismatics was, for nearly a quarter century, exemplary. Earlier questions about the collection had been raised by John Hill Morgan, writing in the February 1941 issue of Antiques. While the doubts about the authenticity of the collection appear to have merit, Sizer's claims about Frossard's complicity in the matter are far less obvious (and Sizer offers no evidence beyond the fact that Frossard sold them). It should be noted that Frossard went to extraordinary lengths to publicize the collection and its sale, arranging for public exhibits and for articles to appear in the New York Times and other publications with widespread circulation. Far from shying away from attaching his name to the collection, he used it to promote himself and to draw as much attention as he could. Frossard's energetic promotional efforts make it difficult to accept Sizer's assumption that Frossard was engaged in outright forgery. (When these items are sold on the market today, they are generally catalogued as "American School," with no claim to being Trumbull's work--or Frossard's for that matter.) This copy of this rare catalogue was owned and signed by Sylvester Rosa Koehler (1837-1900), the curator of prints for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Ex David Fanning, 2015; ex Cardinal Collection Library.
(Estimate: $1000)
Frossard, Ed. THE TRUMBULL GALLERY. EARLIEST WORKS OF JOHN TRUMBULL. ORIGINAL STUDIES, DRAWN IN INDIA INK ON VELLUM, COMPRISING GROUPS, PORTRAITS, AND MINIATURES OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, THE GENERALS, STATESMEN AND CELEBRITIES OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD, ALSO PEN AND INK PORTRAITS OF DISTINGUISHED INDIVIDUALS, PRECIOUS MEMENTOES OF WASHINGTON AND HIS GENERALS, A SAMPLER BY MARTHA WASHINGTON, ETC., ETC., ETC., FORMING TOGETHER A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY PIECES, COLLECTED AND NOW FOR SALE. Boston: T.R. Marvin & Son, 1894. 8vo, original printed card covers printed in blue. 28, (2) pages; 160 listings. Contemporary signature of S.R. Koehler on front cover, with his diminutive stamp on the inside front cover. Fine or very nearly so. Adams 128. Very rare, being the only copy we have sold besides the copy included in Frossard's own set of his catalogues (sold in Kolbe Sale 93, the Ford Library, as lot 484); even the comprehensive John W. Adams Library did not include this. Frossard's catalogues of art purporting to be from the archives of Revolutionary-era artist John Trumbull are all rare, and while they are not numismatic, they are important. There are at least four publications in this series: in 1982, Adams listed an 1894 fixed-price list assigned No. 128 in the Frossard series as well as an auction dated March 19-20, 1896 constituting No. 137. Frossard's own set of his catalogues, preserved by Hiram Deats and later in the John J. Ford Library, included an April 1894 Catalogue of the Trumball Collection of Original Studies in India Ink ... of the Revolutionary Period... assigned No. 127A by Kolbe (though 128A would be a better identification in this cataloguer's opinion). Earlier, Kolbe Sale 70 had included a slight, 8-page offering constituting Part II of the Frossard Revolutionary Collection, Comprising Original Miniatures on Ivory by the Celebrated American Artist Colonel John Trumbull... (lot 1642). That Part II to Adams No. 137 (date-stamped by the recipient February 18, 1897) was somehow missed when compiling the 2001 Additions & Corrections supplement to Adams Volume I, despite the fact that Adams had purchased the copy in question. We have assigned that issue Adams No. 137A. Both Adams 128 and 137 exist in versions printed on thick paper and with two plates--both turned up in Frossard's own set in the Ford Library, but they remain the only plated copies of which we are aware. Frossard's offering of this collection of material attributed by him to John Trumbull is controversial. As Adams related in his introduction to Frossard in United States Numismatic Literature: For all his charm and erudition, it would be wrong to paint Frossard without his warts. One can forgive his occasional mistakes, such as his "discovery" of a Novum Belgium piece which turned out to be a Betts fabrication; no cataloguer is perfect. One can also forgive his waspishness, its being born, no doubt, out of a perennial envy of others' commercial success. However, it is difficult to account for his handling of a large collection of John Trumbull material, offered in Sale one hundred twenty-eight and Sale one hundred thirty-seven. Theodore Sizer, in Volume XXII of the Princeton University Library Chronicles, describes this collection as a "massive deliberate fraud." He asserts that Frossard was involved in the fabrication of the material as well as in its disposition. If Frossard was guilty as charged, the temptation must have been great indeed. His behavior in the field of numismatics was, for nearly a quarter century, exemplary. Earlier questions about the collection had been raised by John Hill Morgan, writing in the February 1941 issue of Antiques. While the doubts about the authenticity of the collection appear to have merit, Sizer's claims about Frossard's complicity in the matter are far less obvious (and Sizer offers no evidence beyond the fact that Frossard sold them). It should be noted that Frossard went to extraordinary lengths to publicize the collection and its sale, arranging for public exhibits and for articles to appear in the New York Times and other publications with widespread circulation. Far from shying away from attaching his name to the collection, he used it to promote himself and to draw as much attention as he could. Frossard's energetic promotional efforts make it difficult to accept Sizer's assumption that Frossard was engaged in outright forgery. (When these items are sold on the market today, they are generally catalogued as "American School," with no claim to being Trumbull's work--or Frossard's for that matter.) This copy of this rare catalogue was owned and signed by Sylvester Rosa Koehler (1837-1900), the curator of prints for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Ex David Fanning, 2015; ex Cardinal Collection Library.
(Estimate: $1000)