Treasure Box

When Guns Were the Locks on the Treasure Box

Way Bill No. 195 for August 14, 1897, the Virginia City & Red Bluff Stage Company. I've added my version of C. M. Russell's "When Guns Were the Locks on the Treasure Box". I've added a short barreled 12 gauge shotgun and a Sharps rifle. I don't know that many kids these days would know where the term "riding shotgun" came from, except riding beside the driver in the passenger seat.
The original is a water color painted on tan paper. Just another example of Charlie's finest.

The Holdup left the building

We did an antique show this weekend. One of my subscribers suggested that I let folks see it that already have a common interest in history, and he certainly wasn't far off the trail. We were fortunate to get a booth in a venue that had walls where we could hang my work. Instead of a four by eight foot table for a booth, we used a smaller table that I could put my portfolio on toward the front of the space. We added chairs, and draped an easel with several elk hides, and put my largest piece on the easel. My wife added a vase of flowers on the floor under the framed art, and next time we'll put them on a small and tall end table. It allowed potential buyers to get up close to my art work so that they could examine it closely. Many of those that we spoke to were convinced there was a trick to it, or that the images were originally part of the document. If they asked questions, it gave us the chance to do our part to correct wrong perceptions.

It worked.

Saturday afternoon we were approached by a couple who are Charlie Russell fans. They liked "The Holdup", and promptly purchased it. They also agreed to leave it hang until the show was over. It was an eye-catcher, and everyone who stopped to look at what I had on display spent time looking at this one in particular. Photos don't do it justice.

Oh yes - they get a THANK YOU.

Start the week off right - CORN FLAKES!

I'm busy this week prepping my entries for the Quick-Draw/Quick-Finish event at the Blackfoot Valley Art Auction to be held the first Friday (and the following Saturday) in August. I'm also busy putting the art work on the Federal Duck stamp covers for this year.

What is unique about this waybill as this piece of ephemera is called is that the Corn Flakes traveled either from Toronto, Canada, or Battle Creek, Michigan, on at least two railroads that no longer exist. The last one being the Butte & Anaconda Rail Road which existed only because of the Anaconda Copper Company and the need to move ore from the mine in Butte to the smelter in Anaconda. The package depicted is proper for the date which is indicated on the waybill itself - February 11, 1916.

The Holdup

Virginia City and Red Bluff Stage Coach Way Bill #78 - My largest yet. The Way Bill is dated March 31st, 1892. It measures 11" X 17". What is a Way Bill you ask? It is a register page for the company that lists passengers on the top half, and freight on the bottom half. There were no passengers carried on this date, which meant I would be obscuring no names. I wish I'd have taken pictures of it before it was framed and put behind glass. I did the art work for this once before on the number 10 envelope pictured above - on a commission basis. The cover was made using a stamp from a sheet that was later withdrawn from sale because the USPS used the wrong Will Pickett on one of the stamps. I have another way bill similar to this one, but haven't yet decided what I'm going to put on it.