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Saturday, August 20

Vincentennial Post #59 - Sea Shells

 Here is a very neat piece of Vincent memorabilia - among the endless things Vincent Price collected, rare seashells were high on the list for many years.  Here's the largest shell Vinnie owned--an Australian trumpet shell--you can see it with a smaller version of the same critter on a table in Vinnie's home in the 1960s in this photo:


Here is the shell today, held by Price collector Robert Taylor this past April in St. Louis as he spoke to a group at the Sheldon Galleries in his talk, "Vincent Price, Collector!"  You can see in this shot the drilled "blow hole" by which the South Sea islanders got loud trumpet tones from the shell. 

  Robert - Victoria Price says her father liked to try it out occasionally when he had guests over for dinner--and he was able to make quite a racket with it!

6 comments:

  1. I'm digging that vase next to the shells. I wonder where it is now ...

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  2. Question: Is this the same Robert Taylor who acted with Vincent, or is that a coincidence?

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  3. No Doc, totally different Robert Taylor. But our Robert is one of the friendliest and kindest folks you'd ever want to meet!

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  4. Oh, btw, here's Robert's response about that vase...

    "Lol I have been digging that vase for a long time, too--it's not in the Taylor Collection, that's all I can tell ya! I don't know if it went with Vinnie after he and Mary divorced, or if it stayed with Mary--but I don't think Victoria has it today. Just one of the 10,000 beautiful things that "went elsewhere" as time passed. I hope it has a good home today!"

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  5. Thanks Dr G and Robert T. I don't have much memorabilia, but I do have Boris Karloff's leather datebook, monogrammed "BK". Got it from his daughter. It's my best piece by far. What would you say is your favorite Vincent Price item, Mr. Taylor?

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  6. Also, does anybody know where that painting in the background is?

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