Skip to main content

Signed photo of 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima' offered at Heritage Auctions


This rare signed copy of Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is expected to fetch up to $25,000 at Heritage Auctions' Photographs Auction on October 4 in New York. The print has four signatures: three by the only three soldiers in the picture who survived the battle, and one by photographer Joe Rosenthal. The photo was originally owned by artist Felix de Weldon, who used it as his basis for the massive sculpture for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

Heritage Auctions tells more about this iconic image:

"On February 23, 1945 there were two American flag raisings on the top of Mount Suribachi. The first flag was hoisted about 10:30 am. It was decided that the first flag was too small and that a second larger flag should be upraised. Around noon the second flag was uplifted and Rosenthal took this Pulitzer Prize winning photograph. There were six flag-raisers originally identified in the photograph - Ira Hayes, Michael Strank, Franklin Sousley, Rene Gagnon, John Bradley and Harlon Block - only Hayes, Gagnon, and Bradley survived the battle.

The impact of this photograph at the time cannot be underestimated. The three surviving second flag-raisers, Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes, met President Truman on April 20, 1945 at the White House and were enlisted to go on the Seventh War Loan Drive to raise money for the war effort."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gilbert Legrand turns mundane stuff into delightful characters

Gilbert Legrand doesn't see the world like the rest of us. You see a scrubbing brush, he sees an Apache chief. You see a a pair of scissors, he sees smooching lovers. The French artist's imagination is so wild and unrestricted that he can turn the most ordinary objects into unexpected sources of delight. I just spent half an hour lurking on his website, and you should, too.
Post a Comment
Read more

The Adorable Sculptures of Yen Yen Lo

These images are from a series of wall sculptures created by Yen Yen Lo . Here you can see her intricately textured ceramic pieces, looking downright adorable. Yen Yen Lo's eye for the unique and whimsical is delightful. Apparently they are not intended for kids under 16. Fifteen-year-olds cannot be trusted with fragile stuff. Get them a Funko Pop instead.
Post a Comment
Read more

The Salimbaa

Here's a strange tribal instrument I never heard of before now. Originally from the Tinananon tribe of southern Philippines, the bowl-shaped Salimbaa is made of metal and wood, has 30 bronze wound strings, and is played using two small sticks.  Caleb Byerly, who makes lost/extinct musical tools in his North Carolina workshop, has an interesting story on how he made his first Salimbaa. WATCH: More details about Caleb and his craft over at  Our State .
Post a Comment
Read more