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Lot Essay
In 1879, as gesture of good will for remaining neutral as France and Britain entangled themselves in Egyptian affairs, the Egyptian Khedive gifted the United States an obelisk that was originally erected by the Pharaoh Thutmose III in 1450 B.C. Taking on the misnomer that echoed the obelisks already gifted to Britain and France, the monument was called “Cleopatra’s Needle.” Commodore William H. Vanderbilt volunteered to underwrite the expense of $102,576 to transport the obelisk from Alexandria to New York, where it was erected in Central Park behind the newly-established Metropolitan Museum of Art. Charged with the task of transfer was naval officer Lieutenant Commander Henry H. Gorringe, whose ingenuity delivered the obelisk to New York in July of 1880. Gorringe, while on leave in Egypt prior to his famed journey, spent considerable time amassing a collection of antiquities.
Upon Gorringe's untimely death in 1886, so began the complicated inheritance process with his collection first assumed by his sister, Laura Hiland, a resident of Grafton, Massachusetts. When she died shortly thereafter, she left it to her husband Dr. Thomas Hiland, who, upon his death in 1907, left it to his adopted son Thomas, underage at the time. When the younger Thomas left Massachusetts to join the US army, the collection defaulted into the possession of Dr. Hiland’s housekeeper, a widow named Emma Poore.
In 1913, while summering in the Massachusetts, the Egyptologist Samuel A.B. Mercer was told of an old woman who lived among “haunted artifacts” in Grafton. His interest piqued, Dr. Mercer paid Mrs. Poore a visit and discovered Gorringe’s collection. In 1914 he published an article “The Gorringe Collection of Egyptian Antiquities." With Thomas Hiland laying no claim to his inheritance, Dr. Mercer assisted the Worcester Art Museum in holding the part of the collection presented here, where they have been in storage since 1915. On January 10, 1960, the collection and its complicated provenance were the subject of a feature in the Worcester Sunday Telegram by reporter Ivan Sandrof.
Upon Gorringe's untimely death in 1886, so began the complicated inheritance process with his collection first assumed by his sister, Laura Hiland, a resident of Grafton, Massachusetts. When she died shortly thereafter, she left it to her husband Dr. Thomas Hiland, who, upon his death in 1907, left it to his adopted son Thomas, underage at the time. When the younger Thomas left Massachusetts to join the US army, the collection defaulted into the possession of Dr. Hiland’s housekeeper, a widow named Emma Poore.
In 1913, while summering in the Massachusetts, the Egyptologist Samuel A.B. Mercer was told of an old woman who lived among “haunted artifacts” in Grafton. His interest piqued, Dr. Mercer paid Mrs. Poore a visit and discovered Gorringe’s collection. In 1914 he published an article “The Gorringe Collection of Egyptian Antiquities." With Thomas Hiland laying no claim to his inheritance, Dr. Mercer assisted the Worcester Art Museum in holding the part of the collection presented here, where they have been in storage since 1915. On January 10, 1960, the collection and its complicated provenance were the subject of a feature in the Worcester Sunday Telegram by reporter Ivan Sandrof.