Patriotic Sand Picture in a Bottle with Ship Wm. H. Cook

Patriotic Sand Picture in a Bottle with Ship Wm. H. Cook and Eagle, Andrew Clemens, McGregor, Iowa, 1888, multicolored sand arranged in a glass bottle, one side of the bottle portraying the sailing vessel Wm H. Cook identified above, with two smaller distant vessels, dated 1888 below, the reverse depicting an eagle in flight and an American flag; with wavy line, marbled, and geometric borders, ht. 6 3/4 in.

Note: Andrew Clemens was born in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1857. At the age of five he became deaf after a bout of encephalitis. He earned his livelihood by painstakingly arranging colored sand with a few hand-made tools to make pictures in glass bottles, selling them for only a few dollars. The sand came from the naturally colored sandstone river bluffs near his home in Iowa. He worked in McGregor, Iowa, and for a short time he made the pictures and exhibited his work at a South State dime museum in Chicago, Ill.
Estimate $20,000-30,000

One dinner plate has a tiny rim chip, one cup has a hairline crack.

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