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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Arlan Ettinger

Aired November 10, 2002 - 07:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Quite a bit of presidential history will be up for sale next weekend. Thousands of items related to the presidency will be auctioned at the New York Historical Society.
Joining us from New York, with the details is Arlan Ettinger. He is the president of Guernsey's Auction House.

Mr. Ettinger, thanks for being with us today.

ARLAN ETTINGER, GUERNSEY'S AUCTION HOUSE: My pleasure.

SAN MIGUEL: Before we get started on what you have brought for us to show, tell us how you were able to acquire these, how the Historical Society was able to get some of these materials, get some of this material, which you know, goes back about 100 years or more.

ETTINGER: Actually, the items are coming from the estates of many of the people who own this material. The sale is being held at the New York Historical Society, which is a fitting setting for this historic event, but the items are not coming directly from the historical society.

SAN MIGUEL: Just from personal collections in other words, or estates from those who were taken part in history.

ETTINGER: From people who -- yes, people who were in the White House or otherwise played important roles in our history.

SAN MIGUEL: So what do we have first here? A flag from the Kennedy administration?

ETTINGER: Yes, what we have, the Navy banner and the stars and stripes are the actual flags that stood in John F. Kennedy's Oval Office throughout his administration. Following his assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy presented Evelyn Lincoln, JFK's trusted assistant, with the flags. When she passed away, they reverted to a university and they're being sold with the funds going to support scholarships that JFK believed in initially.

They could be argued as being perhaps the most important flags of American history of the 20th century.

SAN MIGUEL: Exactly, considering what went on during that 1,000 days of his administration. What do we have next? ETTINGER: Between the flags, we have an extraordinary item discovered about 10 years ago on the eastern end of north -- of Long Island. This is believed to be the oldest flag in our nation's history. It dates to colonial era circa 1680 and is the only known surviving remnant that sports the original symbol of the colonies, the pine tree, which you can see in the upper left.

This is believed to be the oldest flag in our nation's history.

SAN MIGUEL: And some of these, I mean, there's not way to put an estimate on this, it's basically you have them listed in the catalog as estimates per request. So it'll be interesting to see how much this particular item will go for.

ETTINGER: IT is impossible often without precedent to try to estimate what something they bring. But if you think about it, we're the folks who sold the single baseball, Mark McGwire's baseball, for $3 million. Is there anyone who could argue that this flag is not more important than that baseball?

But the auction is the auction. And most of the items in this auction have no preset minimums, which means they'll go for whatever they go for.

SAN MIGUEL: It'll be interesting to see exactly what that one will go for, considering the history involved here. What is next on the list that you have?

ETTINGER: We have in front of me a table full of samples of the several thousands of items being sold next weekend. Immediately here, we have the original pamphlet that was handed out when the Statue of Liberty opened. Along with artwork that appeared in a book about the Statue of Liberty at the same time.

Moving forward, we have many, many items relating to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, this being just one of them. This was Eleanor Roosevelt's personal scrapbook with her comments throughout, and printed literature about addresses she gave and important issues, many having to do with women at the time.

She was clearly what many believed to be the first feminist and the most respected woman, perhaps of the 20th century.

SAN MIGUEL: The first first lady to actually have a newspaper column, I believe?

ETTINGER: I think you're right. We move on to additional FDR material. This being a fascinating collection. I'm only showing one here, but FDR's handprint, which the Library of Congress has the handprints of all other presidents.

For some reason, this one remained with Grace Tully, who was FDR's personal assistant. And this handprint, along with Eleanor Roosevelt's handprints and other cabinet members, are kept for history and will be sold. SAN MIGUEL: And -- but the Library of Congress has also as a collection of presidential handprints, too, right? And this one was -- I think you may have said, was missing from the collection?

ETTINGER: It apparently is the case, as it was given to Grace Tully, who wrote about it in her book with her career with FDR. And here it is. And it did come from her estate. There's been no place in between that it's been offered. And so, here it is.

SAN MIGUEL: The mystery is solved and we'll see what that's going to be going for as well. Some of these items range from, you know, $800 to $10,000. We should mentioned that the sketch of the Statue of Liberty construction, the handbook was open that you showed earlier, I believe the range there was from $7 to $9,000?

ETTINGER: Well, these are pretty much guestimates. As I again mentioned, there are few things in this auction have minimums. So we can take our best stab at trying to come up with an estimate, but anything goes. And that's what makes it an exciting event.

SAN MIGUEL: Exactly. Next is something from the Steve Allen Show that has to do with presidential politics.

ETTINGER: Well, certainly there are light moments within the presidency and these are two of them. President Nixon and Vice President Agnew, puppets that were used clearly to poke fun at that current administration by Steve Allen, who was very, very adept at doing just that.

SAN MIGUEL: I was about to say, when it came to politics and satire and combining the two, there was no one quite like the late Steve Allen.

ETTINGER: The best.

SAN MIGUEL: What else do we have on...

ETTINGER: Moving on to -- we have a banner from the Abraham Lincoln. And you'll note the misspelling of his name, one of two such to exist. Behind me, we have elements from the "Time" magazine cover collection, 125 original paintings used for the cover of "Time" magazine.

You see Khrushchev FDR. But moving ahead quickly, we have one of the only surviving paintings known by John F. Kennedy.

SAN MIGUEL: Oh, right.

ETTINGER: He was an artist. He loved to paint. And there's one of the few paintings. And to conclude matters in a fitting way to conclude it, we have an extraordinary woven portrait of George Washington, one of three done back in the 1840s and believed to be the finest woven portrait of any American president listed in the book recently by the Smithsonian. It's an extraordinary item.

SAN MIGUEL: It is. I don't mean to make light of it, but it just looks -- looks just like the dollar bill there. But also the idea of John F. Kennedy having time to paint, considering what he went through in his 1,000 days, you know, looking for some form of relaxation. And he was able to find it. And you've got it now at Guernsey's.

ETTINGER: We have it, and there are books that show him actually painting these paintings, and obviously with something he enjoyed.

SAN MIGUEL: It must have been. November 16 and 17 is when the auction is set there at Guernsey's in New York. Our editor is the president of Guernsey's. Fascinating material. Good luck with the auction and thanks for showing them on CNN Sunday Morning.

ETTINGER: Great, and if you can't be here in person, you can bid on Ebay.

SAN MIGUEL: All right, I figure there might be an Internet connection here somewhere, but we do appreciate you passing that along. Thank you so much for your time.

ETTINGER: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com








Aired November 10, 2002 - 07:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Quite a bit of presidential history will be up for sale next weekend. Thousands of items related to the presidency will be auctioned at the New York Historical Society.
Joining us from New York, with the details is Arlan Ettinger. He is the president of Guernsey's Auction House.

Mr. Ettinger, thanks for being with us today.

ARLAN ETTINGER, GUERNSEY'S AUCTION HOUSE: My pleasure.

SAN MIGUEL: Before we get started on what you have brought for us to show, tell us how you were able to acquire these, how the Historical Society was able to get some of these materials, get some of this material, which you know, goes back about 100 years or more.

ETTINGER: Actually, the items are coming from the estates of many of the people who own this material. The sale is being held at the New York Historical Society, which is a fitting setting for this historic event, but the items are not coming directly from the historical society.

SAN MIGUEL: Just from personal collections in other words, or estates from those who were taken part in history.

ETTINGER: From people who -- yes, people who were in the White House or otherwise played important roles in our history.

SAN MIGUEL: So what do we have first here? A flag from the Kennedy administration?

ETTINGER: Yes, what we have, the Navy banner and the stars and stripes are the actual flags that stood in John F. Kennedy's Oval Office throughout his administration. Following his assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy presented Evelyn Lincoln, JFK's trusted assistant, with the flags. When she passed away, they reverted to a university and they're being sold with the funds going to support scholarships that JFK believed in initially.

They could be argued as being perhaps the most important flags of American history of the 20th century.

SAN MIGUEL: Exactly, considering what went on during that 1,000 days of his administration. What do we have next? ETTINGER: Between the flags, we have an extraordinary item discovered about 10 years ago on the eastern end of north -- of Long Island. This is believed to be the oldest flag in our nation's history. It dates to colonial era circa 1680 and is the only known surviving remnant that sports the original symbol of the colonies, the pine tree, which you can see in the upper left.

This is believed to be the oldest flag in our nation's history.

SAN MIGUEL: And some of these, I mean, there's not way to put an estimate on this, it's basically you have them listed in the catalog as estimates per request. So it'll be interesting to see how much this particular item will go for.

ETTINGER: IT is impossible often without precedent to try to estimate what something they bring. But if you think about it, we're the folks who sold the single baseball, Mark McGwire's baseball, for $3 million. Is there anyone who could argue that this flag is not more important than that baseball?

But the auction is the auction. And most of the items in this auction have no preset minimums, which means they'll go for whatever they go for.

SAN MIGUEL: It'll be interesting to see exactly what that one will go for, considering the history involved here. What is next on the list that you have?

ETTINGER: We have in front of me a table full of samples of the several thousands of items being sold next weekend. Immediately here, we have the original pamphlet that was handed out when the Statue of Liberty opened. Along with artwork that appeared in a book about the Statue of Liberty at the same time.

Moving forward, we have many, many items relating to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, this being just one of them. This was Eleanor Roosevelt's personal scrapbook with her comments throughout, and printed literature about addresses she gave and important issues, many having to do with women at the time.

She was clearly what many believed to be the first feminist and the most respected woman, perhaps of the 20th century.

SAN MIGUEL: The first first lady to actually have a newspaper column, I believe?

ETTINGER: I think you're right. We move on to additional FDR material. This being a fascinating collection. I'm only showing one here, but FDR's handprint, which the Library of Congress has the handprints of all other presidents.

For some reason, this one remained with Grace Tully, who was FDR's personal assistant. And this handprint, along with Eleanor Roosevelt's handprints and other cabinet members, are kept for history and will be sold. SAN MIGUEL: And -- but the Library of Congress has also as a collection of presidential handprints, too, right? And this one was -- I think you may have said, was missing from the collection?

ETTINGER: It apparently is the case, as it was given to Grace Tully, who wrote about it in her book with her career with FDR. And here it is. And it did come from her estate. There's been no place in between that it's been offered. And so, here it is.

SAN MIGUEL: The mystery is solved and we'll see what that's going to be going for as well. Some of these items range from, you know, $800 to $10,000. We should mentioned that the sketch of the Statue of Liberty construction, the handbook was open that you showed earlier, I believe the range there was from $7 to $9,000?

ETTINGER: Well, these are pretty much guestimates. As I again mentioned, there are few things in this auction have minimums. So we can take our best stab at trying to come up with an estimate, but anything goes. And that's what makes it an exciting event.

SAN MIGUEL: Exactly. Next is something from the Steve Allen Show that has to do with presidential politics.

ETTINGER: Well, certainly there are light moments within the presidency and these are two of them. President Nixon and Vice President Agnew, puppets that were used clearly to poke fun at that current administration by Steve Allen, who was very, very adept at doing just that.

SAN MIGUEL: I was about to say, when it came to politics and satire and combining the two, there was no one quite like the late Steve Allen.

ETTINGER: The best.

SAN MIGUEL: What else do we have on...

ETTINGER: Moving on to -- we have a banner from the Abraham Lincoln. And you'll note the misspelling of his name, one of two such to exist. Behind me, we have elements from the "Time" magazine cover collection, 125 original paintings used for the cover of "Time" magazine.

You see Khrushchev FDR. But moving ahead quickly, we have one of the only surviving paintings known by John F. Kennedy.

SAN MIGUEL: Oh, right.

ETTINGER: He was an artist. He loved to paint. And there's one of the few paintings. And to conclude matters in a fitting way to conclude it, we have an extraordinary woven portrait of George Washington, one of three done back in the 1840s and believed to be the finest woven portrait of any American president listed in the book recently by the Smithsonian. It's an extraordinary item.

SAN MIGUEL: It is. I don't mean to make light of it, but it just looks -- looks just like the dollar bill there. But also the idea of John F. Kennedy having time to paint, considering what he went through in his 1,000 days, you know, looking for some form of relaxation. And he was able to find it. And you've got it now at Guernsey's.

ETTINGER: We have it, and there are books that show him actually painting these paintings, and obviously with something he enjoyed.

SAN MIGUEL: It must have been. November 16 and 17 is when the auction is set there at Guernsey's in New York. Our editor is the president of Guernsey's. Fascinating material. Good luck with the auction and thanks for showing them on CNN Sunday Morning.

ETTINGER: Great, and if you can't be here in person, you can bid on Ebay.

SAN MIGUEL: All right, I figure there might be an Internet connection here somewhere, but we do appreciate you passing that along. Thank you so much for your time.

ETTINGER: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com