RED CROSS AUCTIONS HISTORIC COLLECTION TO CUT DEFICIT

ROSE PERCY HAS A LONG HISTORY WITH THE AMERICAN RED CROSS. COMPLETE WITH AN EXTENSIVE WARDROBE AND HER OWN TIFFANY JEWELRY, THIS 23-INCH WAX DOLL WAS FIRST SOLD FOR $1,200 BACK IN 1864 TO BENEFIT THE US SANITARY COMMISSION, THE PRECURSOR TO ONE OF THE BEST-KNOWN US CHARITIES. PERCY WAS SOLD IN ONE OF THE FIRST ROUNDS OF AN EXTENSIVE SALE OF TREASURE THE AMERICAN RED CROSS HAS AMASSED OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DECADES. THE RED CROSS IS ALSO SELL A RARE AND UNIQUE FOUR-FACED CARTIER CLOCK LAMP, NURSE UNIFORMS FROM WORLD WAR I AND WHAT COULD BE THE LAST CIVIL WAR-ERA FLAG OF THE FORERUNNER US SANITARY COMMISSION. "THERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOPLE TO PURCHASE A PART OF THE RED CROSS HISTORY AND AT THE SAME TIME CONTRIBUTE TO OUR HUMANITARIAN MISSION", SAID A RED CROSS SPOKESMAN. AT A TIME WHEN MANY COMPANIES ARE CUTTING BACK ON SUCH VAST ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS, THE 128 YEAR OLD CHARITY, HE SAID, IS ASKING ITSELF, "DO I REALLY NEED ALL OF THIS?" FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS, THE CHARITY WHOSE CORE MISSION IS DISASTER RELIEF HAS BEEN WORKING FEVERISHLY TO ERASE A $209 MILLION OPERATING DEFICIT, A SHORTFALL THAT NOW STANDS AT $33.5 MILLION. THE NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS LAID OFF A THIRD OF ITS 3,000 EMPLOYEES LAST YEAR AND MADE A RARE APPEAL TO CONGRESS FOR HELP THAT PRODUCED A ONE-TIME, $100 MILLION INFUSION. BUT THE COST-CUTTING ISN'T OVER. WHAT ONCE WAS A COLLECTION OF MORE THAN 135,000 OBJECTS, IMAGES, BOOKS AND REELS OF FILM KEPT IN A LORTON, VA, WAREHOUSE OUTSIDE WASHINGTON IS BEING DRASTICALLY SCALED BACK. MANY ITEMS PREDATE THE TIME IN 1881 WHEN CLARA BARTON FOUNDED THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN WASHINGTON. SOME HAVE BEEN SENT TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES UNDER A LONG STANDING PARTNERSHIP, THE MOST HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT ART AND OBJECTS WILL BE KEPT AT THE WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS AND OTHERS WILL BE AUCTIONED OFF IN THE LARGEST JUMBLE-SALE IN YEARS. THE CHARITY WILL HONOUR DONOR INTENT AND KEEP ITS BEST AND MOST HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT ART AND OBJECTS, THE SPOKESPERSON SAID, THAT WILL INCLUDE ORIGINAL PAINTINGS BY NORMAN ROCKWELL, HOWARD CHANDLER CHRISTY AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARTIST HENRY OSSAWA TANNER, AMONG OTHERS.
Tanner, among others.