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LouI'll try to give you a re-cap of the find and what remains. About 4 years ago we (ITPC) were contacted by a relative of a woman who had passed away. She was the artist responsible for creating most of the pieces (including the more common Indians banks) that were being proposed as a sideline business of Gibbs-Conner. Most of these pieces were never offered to the public for sale as there seemed to be difficulty in marketing them. Since the company was located in Cleveland and the artist was a big Cleveland Indians and Browns fan, many different pieces were being created for these teams.Along with buying the majority of the estate find (not as much as you might think), we also were able to obtain provenance in the form of paperwork, checks and office memos concerning this project. It is a fascinating history of this period of the Gibbs-Conner Company and may have been the cause of their eventual demise.
We have tried to dole out the pieces slowly to give everyone a fair chance at obtaining what we feel are some of the most incredible pieces of figural sports memorabilia in the hobby. The list of what we have left is not endless and sadly will soon come to an end. There are a few more unique pieces that we will auction over the next year or so. There were only a handful of each example that were made available to us and some that the family is keeping for sentimental purposes. I only hope that it is as exciting for collectors as it has been for us. We have felt priveledged to handle them- if only for a little while. It isn't often that small time dealers like us are offered finds like this.
I have posted more information about the find on our Blog which can be found at our web site: www.insidetheparkcollectibles.com