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WORLD MARKETPLACE NEWS with Managing Editor Judy Gonyeau

GREAT COLLECTIONS – ANTIQUES ROADSHOW UK – A guest brought two photo albums
The market for rare United from WWI, and the diary kept by his grandfather, a sergeant in the war,
States coins enjoyed a banner who had some reluctance to discuss the contents of the photo albums.
year in 2022 with many hun- The expert inspected one photo which showed the guest’s grandfather and
dreds of price records set for his brother Jim from in the trenches. The guest explained: “Before the
individual coins, according to an war, Jim had emigrated to Australia and in Australia joined an
analysis by CDN Publishing, Australian merchant, and then purely by chance they ended up in the
publishers of the Greysheet same trench.” They both survived
family of numismatic market the war, and the brother went back
price guides. “Using data available to us, more than $560 million to Australia. The expert shared:
worth of U.S. rare coins were sold via public auction, marking the “In the early years of the war,
third consecutive year this aggregate total has increased. For the first taking photos was not a prob-
time, 16 individual U.S. coins sold for greater than $1 million, and lem. As the war progressed, things
an additional two numismatically-related items sold for more than $1 started to change.” Politicians
million. Thirteen of these seven-figure items were sold by Heritage realized that photographs taken
Auctions,” said Patrick Ian Perez, CDN Vice President. In the photo, by soldiers could end up sharing
a 1909-dated Lincoln cent struck at the San Francisco Mint with too much information that the enemy could use. “So the government
designer Victor D. Brenner’s initials, V.D.B., as part of the design. decided that actually, it wasn't a good idea to have soldiers taking photo-
graphs.” As for the albums’ photos, the military expert noted the
photographs would be in the region of $450 to $600.
CHRISTIE’S – The Collection of
André Leon Talley, fashion trailblazer
and icon, opens online on January 27 THE GUARDIAN – It’s been a tough time for Dungeons & Dragons
and continues through February 16th. fans. The reins were pulled in on users who come up with their own
On the 15th, there will be a special storylines and new characters. They had also been able to make and sell
sale at Christie’s of 68 diverse lots. products required to play or based on the game under an open game
Talley was known for his love of extrav- license (OGL) agreement. A leaked new agreement drafted by Wizards
agant things and extravagant gestures. of the Coast (WoTC), the Hasbro subsidiary that owns D&D,
After passing away in January of 2022 threatens to “tighten” the OGL that has been in place since the early
with no heir apparant, his will essentially said, “Sell it. Sell it 2000s. It would grant WoTC the ability to “make money off of these
(almost) all.” The proceeds to be split between the Abyssinian products without paying the person who made it” and companies that
Baptist Church in Harlem and the Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist make over $750,000 will have to start paying Hasbro a 25% cut of
Church in Durham, where he grew up. The 448-lot estate went on a their earnings. More than 66,000 fans signed an open letter addressed
three-city tour prior to the online opening at the end of January. to Hasbro, D&D Beyond, and WoTC, expressing disgust at
the proposed changes. D&D Beyond is reversing its posi-
tion on the OGL to protect “educational and charitable
NYT – One late October morning in Kherson, Ukraine, Russian campaigns, livestreams, cosplay” and other content
forces blocked off a street in downtown Kherson and surrounded a created by community members. In the statement,
graceful old building with dozens of soldiers. Five large trucks pulled the company attempted to deny this was a blunder,
up. So did a line of military vehicles, ferrying Russian agents who saying: “You’re going to hear people say that they
filed in through several doors. It was a carefully planned, highly won, and we lost because making your voices
organized, military-style assault heard forced us to change our plans. Those people
– on an art museum. The will only be half right. They won – and so did we.”
Kherson Regional Art Museum.
They dragged bronze statues in
parks, lifted books from a riverside BOSTON.COM – A New Bedford man who previously worked at
scientific library, boxed up the the New Bedford Whaling Museum is facing charges for allegedly
crumbling, 200-year-old bones of stealing
Grigory Potemkin, Catherine the dozens of rare
Great’s lover, and even stole a artifacts from
raccoon from the zoo, leaving the museum
behind a trail of vacant cages, and selling
empty pedestals and smashed glass. them for cash.
“Don’t panic,’’ said Kirill Stremousov, Kherson’s Russia-installed Robert M.
deputy administrator, when he explained what had happened. He said Burchell, 42, of
that when the fighting stopped, the monuments would “definitely New Bedford,
return,” and that “everything was being done for the benefit of preserving was arrested on
the historical heritage of the city of Kherson.” The statues have yet to be January 5 and
returned. (And a few weeks later, just as Ukrainian troops were charged with larceny from a building. Authorities estimate the total
liberating Kherson, Stremousov was killed in a suspicious car crash) value of the stolen items to be more than $75,000. Authorities say he
Ukrainian officials say that Russian forces have robbed or damaged stole dozens of pocket-sized artifacts from the museum and sold
more than 30 museums. them at local antique and pawn shops. A West Bridgewater shop
owner who bought some of the items from Burchell tipped off police
after he became suspicious they were stolen. Most of the items have since
THRIFTING – An astute sports journalist discovered an actual been returned to the museum.
“jacket” only awarded to Masters golf tournament champions. Jackets
are typically not allowed to be removed from the course unless the winner
takes their blazer home. The journalist paid $5, and sold it for $139,349. Starting Next Month … Our New Column! – “Toys from the Attic”

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