Folk Art Carved Coal Lion
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GUEST:
I had an aunt, my grandfather's sister, who lived in Kentucky. She ran a little country store, trying to make a living, and she bought and sold some antiques. Somewhere along that line, I think she collected this piece. When I was a boy growing up, it always sat on her fireplace hearth in her living room of her apartment. And I always liked it. When she passed away, well, it came to me. So I've had it, well, probably 30, 35 years now.
APPRAISER:
And where do you put it in your house?
GUEST:
Well, since we moved to Alabama, it's been in a box in a closet. (laughing)
APPRAISER:
Well, what made you pick it to bring today?
GUEST:
I've always been curious about it. I take it it was made by a Kentucky coal miner sometime or another.
APPRAISER:
I see a lot of things carved out of coal. Okay. And let me say this, that most things I see carved out of coal look like they were made by a caveman, and I'm not talking about a caveman that has a high degree of technical skill. Whoever did this put his personality in it and created something that I think speaks to me as a folk art person. I just love the contours of it. You think it's a lion, or what do you think it is?
GUEST:
I don't know. He's got a blob on his tail here. It kind of looks like it might be a lion. He's got catlike ears, and this could be a mane.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
I wonder how anybody in Eastern Kentucky would have much idea of lions, unless they maybe heard the story of Daniel in the lion's den or something.
APPRAISER:
I was going to say, it might have been about Daniel in the lion's den.
GUEST:
But I call it a dog, but I kind of suspect it may be a lion.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, I kind of think it's a lion, too. It has personality, it has presence. It's hard for me to put a date on it, but I would guess probably made in the first quarter of the 20th century. It looks like a Kentucky coal miner's attempt to carve a lion that's right out of the time of the Egyptians. We talked over there at the table quite a bit. We decided to err on the side of caution and be conservative, and we think that a good pre-auction estimate for that would be $6,000 to $8,000.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
Really.
GUEST:
Wow, kind of blows me away.
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