S.O.S. for The Spirit of Liberty
The City of Ogdensburg has applied for a $50,000 matching grant from the U.S. National Park Service to restore Farnham's Soldiers and Sailors monument in Library Park. They took this immediate course of action after they failed to win the state grant they applied for last fall from the Office of Parks, Conservation and Historic Preservation. The monument will be celebrating its 100 anniversary on August 23, 2005 and the City is keeping its "fingers crossed" in hopes of winning this grant for the monuments much needed restoration. The City is also seeking individual contributions from interested individuals or businesses. Donors are eligible for a 25% New York State tax credit through the Ogdensburg Empire Zone. Donations can be sent to the City Comptroller, 330 Ford Street, Ogdensburg, New York, 13669. Checks can be made out to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument Restoration. It is vital that the City of Ogdensburg restore this tangible link to it's rich past and its native daughter, Sally James Farnham.
2004 Auction Results
June 23, 2004
Rarely does the work of Sally James Farnham find itself at auction. Last year, two bronzes were sold at significantly higher prices than work by Farnham traditionally had commanded in the past. At the July 24 2004 Coeur d'Alene Art Auction Farnham's early Cowboy and Rider (also known as Cowboy Fun) brought an astounding $37,500 (lot #188, estimate $8,000-$12,000) in just forty-five seconds. At the February 25, 2004 Belle Epoque auction at Doyle New York, her End of the Day bronze sold for significant $48,000 (estimate $1,500-$2000) just shy of the highest price paid for the artist at auction set at Christies in May 25, 1989 for her Will Rogers which realized $49,500. These results illustrate an upswing in the art market for works by Sally James Farnham.
Farnham Bronzes Stolen
With all the recent news reports regarding art theft around the world, most recently the brazen robbery of some important Edvard Munch canvases at the Munch Museum, it brings to note that even the work of Sally James Farnham has been the victim of theft. In 1998 Farnham's Simon Bolivar statuette, a replica of her majestic monument in Central Park, was stolen from the Birthplace Museum of Simon Bolivar in Caracas. The bronze was retrived the following day. More recently, on March 9, 2002 an early morning burglary at the National Museum of Polo and Hal of Fame in Lake Worth, Florida had robbed the Museum of close to $100,000 worth of treasured silver sterling trophies, including the coverted U.S. Open Championship Trophy designed by Farnham in 1910. As the works had "high historical value within the polo community, but very little cash value," it was feared that the items might be melted and sold. Within a couple of weeks the trophies were retrieved from the trunk of a Lake Worth man and the U.S. Open Championship Trophy was returned to its rightful place at the Museum.
