PilotOnline.com reports that conditions at Virginia’s Carter’s Grove are worse than inspectors expected and a condition in the basement is of specific concern. Located on the north shore of the James River, carter’s Grove was completed in 1755. The home was added to Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s (CW) properties through a gift from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1969. Financial difficulties, however led to the sale of the home to CNET founder Halsey Minor, who announced plans to use the property as a private residence and a center for a thoroughbred horse breeding program. According to the article, Minor put $5 million down and borrowed $10.3 million from the foundation for the property. More recently he stopped making payments and now owes the foundation about $4 million plus interest. The report indicates he also mortgaged the property to buy a $5 million private jet and $3.4 million in artwork. Minor filed a bankruptcy petition on behalf of his Carter’s Grove LLC, claiming more than $12 million in debts.
A rare purple Justus Perry early blown glass Masonic eagle flask, made circa 1822-1840 by the Keene-Marlboro Street Glass Works sold for $17,360 in an Internet and catalog sale recently by American Bottle Auctions. “If we had offered the same bottle in its usual aqua, it probably would have fetched $500,” says Jeff Wichmann of American Bottle Auctions about the flask. ”A chip to the lip kept this one from bringing even more.”
George Henry Hall’s Still life of Red, White and Blue Flowers in the muzzle of a Springfield Rifle will be auctioned at along with 74 works by American and European artists from the 16th through 20th centuries at Keno auctions June 12. The painting belonged to the Late Ms. Delia P. Frissora of Watertown, Mass, who died last year. It was loaned to Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1972. It was also the subject of a recent post on 
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