These were foundational sales. The leading Halloween collector at the time, Hugh decided to sell his small but very choice collection in a series of sales through Dunbar’s Gallery, run by Leila (Lee) Dunbar, who can now occasionally be seen on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow mainly appraising sports items. Hugh was an early collector with a very good eye. He was generous with his knowledge, making time to educate collectors at all levels. He was, and is, a charming bon vivant. I was fortunate to get to know him some years before these sales, providing an opportunity to examine the items comprising his collection, in situ, so to speak. I was an aggressive bidder in these sales, enabling me to purchase the best of his collection. Four items on the cover of this catalog made their way to my home.
I began assembling an archive of catalogs and magazines when I first began collecting. The internet was a few years away, so some dealers would send out near-monthly offerings through the mail. I kept nearly every one, enabling me now to access a sizable library of reference materials that still serve to inform my collecting. There were other publications and zines then - the best of which was The Boo News. If you have a chance to acquire any of The Boo News newsletters, do so. They make fascinating and prescient reading, decades removed from publication.
