Deborah:

I was very impressed with the few pieces of the collection I saw in 
Boston, but didn't even have time to make sketches. It's a shame it's 
hidden away for lack of funding.

Here's a fund-raising idea for you to pass along. They could make 
plaster castings of the carvings and sell them. I'd put in an order for 
a couple hundred bucks right off. To get fund raising and marketing of 
the castings off to a quick start they could mount an "exploration" of 
the carvings in the crates, shooting video of opening the crate, telling 
the story of the collection, taking up a layer of carvings, announcing 
the availability of the castings, with a knowledgeable carver like 
yourself spontaneously exclaiming on their value, uniqueness of the 
collection, etc. Distributing the video on the internet would capture 
the "long-tail market" we talked about in Barre. Then every one or two 
months do another layer, another video, more castings available, etc. A 
series like this would promote the original intent of the collection 
(study for learning woodcarvers) and could develop quite a following of 
the collection, perhaps even "subscribers" who would pay in advance for 
castings from future unveilings of the layers.

The market for the castings would be carvers, and those who teach 
carving of course, but they might also be marketed as objets d'art in 
the decorative accessories trade and to consumers. This could generate 
some real piles of money.

John Buckets-o-Money Leeke
www.HistoricHomeWorks.com

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