Saturday Morning, June 6, 2026
East O' the Sun
The sea churned as stomachs turned. Silence descended upon the landing crafts bobbing towards France. Soldiers prayed, in between bouts of vomiting. The effluence swirled about their boots sloshing with each roll of the boats, deeper by the minute. No one complained. Staring at eternity tends to focus priorities.
Folk Art folded paper box, 10" D. 9" H. 10" W.
Pandora with plastic Deco cabinet handle for easy opening.
Pair of cast iron bookends, 5 ½" H.
All their training. The final exam now on Europe's threshold. Machine gun bullets peppered their boat, pinging against the metal surface. Still, the launches lurched forward scraping the sandy shoreline. In an instant the front ramp dropped. Welcome to Dante's Inferno. The men jumped forward, struggling with heavy backpacks and guns. For the first ones, machine guns and cannonade ripped them to pieces. Body parts floated on the surf and sand. No one turned back. Forward they pushed. Progress measured in inches. It would be a long journey to Berlin. June 6th, 1944. The day American troops challenged Germany's Pandora box.
West O' the Rising Sun
Sunday morning was quiet. Even the birds slept past sunrise. The early glow promised another beautiful day in paradise. Here, far out in the Pacific, life was peaceful. The lull of surf and sun offering a Lotus-Eater's respite. Nothing could disturb them now.
Stacy's Santa's Autumn Collection - Headless Horseman, 2001, 38" H.
Nothing personifies evil like Washington Irving's infamous character.
In the early morning calm an unusual sound filled the air. Approaching aircraft, flying at tremendous speed, appeared overhead. There was little time to duck. Bombs and bullets ripped the dream world apart. Wave after wave of Japanese Zeros crisscrossed Pearl Harbor, delivering death and destruction. Naval ships exploded, burned, the Oklahoma capsized, then sunk at their berths. So complete was the attack, the loss was never reported stateside. Within hours almost all the Pacific Fleet was decimated. December 7th, 1941. The day American sailors fell before Japan's Pandora box.
English WWII propaganda warning, one of three, 7 ¼" x 11 ¾"
You've got to Change your Evil Ways
Pandora's box. A classic story echoing down to us from ancient Greece. Prometheus, having stolen fire from the Gods, raises the ire of Zeus, king of gods. In response, Zeus creates the first woman and gifts her to the mortal Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus. And you think you have family problems. Her name? Pandora.
Fenton Connosieur Felicity Favrene vase, T. Neader artist, 8 ½" H.
Jay Strongwater decorative frame, 7 ½" x 5 ¾".
It was a revenge gift, not too unlike a white elephant party, sent with all the love the gods could muster. Along with her arrival comes a box. Everyone is warned to never open it except for you know who. Not quite a resounding welcome for the first lady. But Pandora is curious, after all she is human. With a lift of the lid, evil flies out bringing humanity all of its trials and tribulations. Charming. We remember her today each time we take communion opening a box of processed food. Not to dismiss these poor uninformed Greeks, the Puritans carried the torch to America professing everyone was born in sin. A real upbeat crowd. Please come to dinner, we are serving Socratic hemlock.
The arts are humanity's antithesis to all the evils in the world.
It is here we take respite each week.
Hold the Mushrooms
America's response to Germany and Japan? Our Pandora box containing two little children. Little Boy and Fatman. Now here was a monumental gift the caliber of Zeus's first female. Nothing sorts out humanity like an atom bomb. It is a disturbing outcome but in line with the curiosity of human nature. But let us remain thankful. Thankful America was first to unleash this human death sentence only twice. There it stopped.Today, we have forgotten Pandora and her box. We now seek a genie who stays in the bottle. Many thanks to a generation now passing who insured our world would remain free and alive.
Gli Estruchi for Rosenthal Netter, wire sculpture, 8 ¾" W.
Our final fate if evil ever wins.
Back again to our laboratory this week. A place awash with curiosity and desire. In a productive way, of course.
Doors open at 8 AM. Auction starts at 9 AM. PA AU 1265L. [bb]