March 29, 2024
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Uncle Sam collection sold at auction

FAIRFIELD – An original World War I recruiting poster showing a stern-faced Uncle Sam declaring “I Want You” to join the Army fetched $3,450 Friday in what was billed as the biggest sale ever of Uncle Sam memorabilia.

The poster was the creation of James Montgomery Flagg, who dressed in a distinctive red, white and blue uniform and painted a self-portrait that inspired the first Uncle Sam posters and similar images that followed.

Among the priciest auction items was Flagg’s Uncle Sam uniform, which was sold for $21,850, according to James Julia, the auctioneer who presided over the sale.

Although a few bidders chose to attend the 41/2-hour auction, most placed their bids by telephone or the Internet.

Julia said he could not come up with a final auction total because of computer problems but pronounced himself satisfied with the outcome.

“The auction had a core of sophisticated collectible things and a lot of decorative things,” he said. “The true collectibles did well.”

The collection was the property of Gerald Czulewicz of Isanti, Minn., who began gathering Uncle Sam memorabilia 40 years ago. His collection included posters, toys, political buttons, advertisements and original artwork.

The only known tintype photograph of meat cutter Sam Wilson of Troy, N.Y., the official progenitor of Uncle Sam, sold for $10,350.

During the War of 1812, Wilson sold beef to the Army in casks that bore the stamp “U.S.” According to legend, handlers of the casks referred to them as “Uncle Sam’s beef.” In 1961, Congress declared Wilson to be the source of the Uncle Sam image.

Czulewicz wanted to sell the collection to Troy, N.Y., which bills itself as the home of Uncle Sam. But the city didn’t have the money and the sale didn’t work out.

The collection was featured in a national tour of 27 museums in 16 states from 1980 to 1992.


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