Alexander Wilson Drake - Drake Art Collection

Drake Art Collection

A hint of his collection skills is given in a printed catalog of the Alexander Wilson Drake Collection, which was sold at public auction in 1913. The collection included “…Antique samplers and needlework, fragments of old printed chintz, bandboxes, wallpaper, glass bottles, pottery, china, pewter, engraved pledge glasses, antique silver cups and ladles, an extraordinary collection of old finger rings, silver, enameled and pearl snuff boxes, patch boxes and vinaigrettes, old paintings and prints.”

Dr. George Frederick Kunz wrote: “The extensive and remarkable collection of the late Alexander Wilson Drake, which was disposed of by the American Art Galleries of New York, March 10th to 17th, 1913, comprised a fine collection of finger rings, illustrating a large variety of forms and periods. There were in all nearly 800 examples, set and unset. There were betrothal rings, memorials rings, gimmal rings, puzzle rings, rings of Roman, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Irish Scandinavian, English and American workmanship, and many Oriental rings, Sassanian, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, Gypsy and Moorish, one of the later being a gold circlet with the twelve signs of the zodiac engraved in high relief around it. The personality of the collector added greatly to the charm of this collection for all who had known him. As art editor of Century Magazine, and in a thousand other ways, no one had labored more enthusiastically and successfully in the cause of art encouragement and art education, and his death constituted a real loss for the progress of art in America…”

At this time of the auction in 1913, Dr. Kunz was still writing his famous book, Rings for the Finger, which came out a few years later in 1917, and perhaps he was also using the Drake Collection then being sold to estimate the value and interest of ancient rings among the public. One example is Lot #1795 “Massive Gold Parthian Finger Ring. Of the third or fourth century A. D. Found in the ruins of Ctesiphon. Heavy six-sided shield with pierced, interlaced and chiseled ornamentation. Figure of a man with upraised arms supporting shield at either side. Entire hoop ornamented. One of the finest specimens in the collection.” Opposite it is the price in 1916 dollars: $170.00!

In the George Frederick Kunz Collection of the US Geological Survey Library, is some correspondence and notes about the Drake Collection. Attached to the copy of the auction catalog are newspaper accounts of the funeral of Alexander W. Drake, of which Dr. Kunz was one of the pallbearers. Also included is a “mourning letter” with black borders around the stationary, written by Mrs. Drake, thanking Dr. Kunz for his many years of friendship with Alexander W. Drake, who had been Kunz' editor at the Century Magazine and other publications. He also mentions in his book, Rings for the Finger, that Mrs. Edith T. Drake had given him a copy made in silver of the famous 1525 wedding ring of Martin Luther to Katharina von Bora, and the ring is also used as an illustration in his book.