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EXTRAORDINARILY RARE ONE OF A KIND GENUINE BILL

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:5,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD
EXTRAORDINARILY RARE ONE OF A KIND GENUINE BILL

SCAGEL GUN RACK. Early to mid-20th century. This neat gun rack is made of lemon wood with Michigan white tail deer antlers and wrought metal ornamentation, all crafted by Scagel. William Scagel was an extraordinarily interesting and truly gifted man. He is commonly considered to be "the grandfather" of the modern high art custom handmade knives. He lived, worked and made his knives in Michigan, primarily in the 1920s and 1930s. Of course, he was making them before the '20s, but the largest majority of them were made during this period. The knives he made were made to be functional and durable hunting knives, but many people were so drawn to his extraordinary beautiful and artistic looking knives that often times, even during this period there were people purchasing his hand made products, not to use, but to own and to enjoy. This is truly a special item. While Scagel made extraordinarily beautiful and artistic hunting knives, this is supposedly the only gun rack he ever produced. It was collected by Dr. Lucie, who was Scagel's personal doctor late in life. Dr. Lucie purchased the rack from a gentleman by the name of Armand Durham who purchased it sometime between 1935 and 1936. The wood plate looks like oak, but according to Armand it came from a lemon tree. Scagel’s knives were extremely popular during his lifetime and although they were made to be a functional tool. All of his creations has special artistic flare to it. Some people bought Scagel’s products, just simply to collect and enjoy them, and Armand Durham was one of these men. He had put together quite a number of very, very select Scagel items such as this. Bill Scagel made knives are rare, but this is far rarer than any knife, it’s the only one ever made. A close up of this exact gun rack is illustrated in the book titled Scagel Hand Made, written by Dr. Jim Lucie. This exact item is illustrated on page 183 of this beautiful and highly informative book about this true genius craftsman. SIZE: 52 1/2" l. The width from the top to the bottom varies from 8" to 11 1/2". CONDITION: fabulous condition. Scagel was the most interesting man, he was a truly conservative, crusty old fellow and lived by his wits and his tremendous and both functional and artistic creativity. There are many interesting stories about Bill that reflect his extraordinary independence. (05-91/JJ). $10,000-20,000.