In late July, I posted about the first three days of the sale that Geneva and Julie Addison conducted of the estate of the late Alan Cohen, a Berkeley psychologist who for almost 50 years collected things.
The second half of the estate sale is this weekend, Saturday the 24th through Monday the 26th, from 10 am to 4 pm at Cohen’s house, 1841 Vine Street.
The major focus of the July sale was Cohen’s rhinoceros collection.
There is barely a rhinoceros in the house, although this tapestry rocks the rhino vibe.
Among the posters is this salute to the birth control pill. The pill was first approved for contraceptive use in the United States in 1960,
One of Alan’s earliest collections was Mad, first the comic and then the magazine.
Although no single theme dominates this batch of things to the extent that the rhinoceros dominated the first sale/post, there are several clusters.
I was sorely tempted to buy the totem poles, whole kit and caboodle. My friend put a quick and hurtful end to that idea. “That is NOT how you make a collection. You don’t buy a collection. You MAKE a collection.”
Okay, okay – point taken, but are they not wonderful????
Another cluster is in the kitchen department.
I love them! I want them! I won’t buy them!
There was paper ephemera at the first sale and there is more for the second.
Holy mackerel – large scrap books filled with Peanuts comics that Cohen cut out and pasted in. Holy mackerel.
There are many more books in this sale, from the profane to the sacred.
There are more cameras than these, but not a caboodle.
This is the second stapler collection (modest collection) that I have seen this summer. Coincidence?
There are about 20 old/vintage/antique telephones for sale. These rock, no?
Finials!
Notice the KQED auction sign on the right.
Sprinklers! Beauty!
Objects for a cabinet of curiosities, I’d say.
I have no earthly idea what this is. Can somebody tell me please?
And this – WHAT IS THIS? Answer = flag holder. Of course.
Alan Cohen’s prodigious collecting impresses me more each moment Since first writing about him in July, I have learned more about him and his family. I will publish that post this weekend, meaning TWO IN ONE WEEK!
I will go to this sale. I will be disciplined and buy nothing. Maybe.
I showed the post to my friend. Judging from his chuckles and knee slaps, I know where he will be at 9 on Saturday morning – in line for the sale. He handed me this photo:
“For a minute I thought – You and me. Vacation. Road trip. We gotta go here, to the Redneck Mansion.”
I asked why he gave up on the idea.
“It’s not what you think. It was an outdoor set used by the Theater het Amsterdam Bos for a 2005 production of the Anton Chekhov play Ivanov. Jay Leno used this photograph in 2013 in his monologue, presenting it as a picture of a town built by MySpace to house its employees in contrast to Facebook‘s new $120 million, 394-unit housing community. Cool and cruel but I would have definitely gone.”
“Notice the KPFA auction sign on the left.” – Was this a slip? Did you mean to say KQED?
On our daily walks around our neighborhood, we frequently come upon “estate sales”. Most seem to be organized by 2nd hand retailers that move stuff from one sale to another. I keep hoping to come across something like your Berkeley Quirk, where I will find missing KRAB program guides or old Helix, or even a stack of Seattle Post Intelligencer’s from the 60s or 70’s. (Post intelligence, as in after the passing of curiosity, learning, wit, and knowledge?) Anyway, it hasn’t happened yet.
Chuck, Seattle
Thank You! That tromp was so delightful. And elicited so many sighs. I have owned many of these things. Trying to let go of many more. Seeing this post oddly made me feel better about the upcoming “losses,” I suppose because it demonstrates the kind of appreciation that made me acquire them in the first place. Enjoying your blog (is it?) and got here by searching for bungalow courts earlier this morning–that was a GREAT one too! Artist-architect trying to downsize in Marin.