Sunday, April 3, 2011

Two Graces Curio Shop Tour 2011

Two Graces Curio shop is located in the St. Francis Church Plaza in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. The shop is in a building that is about 300 years old, we're open every day 10-5 usually longer hours, especially in the Summer. This shot was taken by a customer a few years ago, I found it posted when I did a Google search of Two Graces, (I have cropped it and changed it)!
A shop without a selection of postcards is just not trying hard enough, we carry both contemporary Post Cards and Note Cards along with vintage Postcards of various subject matter, but primarily New Mexico and Native Americana.
This past week I moved the shop around, here's a look as you enter...
We carry Vintage Curio Jewelry from the Fred Harvey type trading post stores, along with Kachinas and other types of collectibles you would have purchased from 1910-1970. We tend to carry 'Vintage' items and not much 'New'. The store is a reflection of my taste in this matter, I sell what I like, not exactly what you'd expect. I rarely carry furniture unless I've made it myself or it was too good to turn down, (I just don't want to move heavy furniture).
The prices at Two Graces are extremely affordable, we strive to keep them that way.
Moving around the front room from right to left and back to the front door. A selection of Vintage Native American Baskets & Pueblo Pottery is always available. At this time we do not have a Maria Martinez pot but we do have a very beautiful pot by Otellie Loloma. My preference for pottery is from the Hopi Pueblos, the beautiful decoration of Acoma pottery, the curio figures from Cochiti, and the colorful 'Poster Paint' pots of Jemez & Tesuque Pueblos. We also have black pottery of San Ildefonso & Santa Clara, a couple of very nice Zia pots and a wonderful new addition a contemporary Santo Domingo water pot with birds.
The books we carry are primarily of the Southwest, but once in a while we have a selection of $1. & $5. bargain books, right now I have an enormous pile of books in French all for $1. Toy metal Tonka Dump trucks and license plates, too.
Sorry but the vintage Red Sox pennants aren't for sale. Hopi, Navajo & Zuni books, Kachina prints, along with an iron Horse boot scraper.
These shelves contain Kachina Salt & Pepper shakers, a carved Steer, a Cow Weathervane complete with bullet holes with a hornets nest inside (I'm told people will shoot at Weathervanes to make them spin) Prison Art & Tramp Art. In the center the orange painted table is one I made, on it rests a vintage typewriter, the type people now take the keys off of to make jewelry with. On the wall a pair of early Mexican tinwork frames, and a large Brass Eagle with separate Banner probably made to be a shop sign perhaps to post items on as daily announcements, this is an amazing sign purchased from a former Philadelphia area antiques dealer. Above this a collection of recently acquired Vintage Kachinas. On top of the shelves are religious items which I've written about in other blog posts. A new favorite item is the "Next Attraction" sign.
For Baseball fans there's the autographed by Ted Williams picture of Ted & Babe Ruth (with COA). More books, these a large range of out of print Native Americana. The Outsider painting is by Louis Maestas a Taos native.
Olaf Wieghurst painting of a Navajo lady, surrounded very humble matchstick crosses were made by children attending Bible Summer Camps. This section of the book collection are the Art Books, Rare and Autographed Books and New Mexico Books. Richard Nixon: "As you know, I kind of like to read books, I'm not educated, but I do read books..." Up on top a couple of Taos drums, an OLD one and a new one.
Day of the Dead Dia de los Muertos figures on the Skeleton Shelf I made 7 years ago.
We also carry some vintage toys and lots of Ephemera, such as Vintage Ledger paper, old photographs, old lithography and tin types. If you're an assemblage artist, please ask to see what else is available, I tend to put things aside for people to make art with, usually that sort of thing isn't out on display, but it's squirreled away in bins, and the prices are more than fair.
Taos New Mexico Pennants for sale, funky bird carvings (the single ones are $25.each), Photograph by the son of Imogen Cunningham, Rondal Partridge, and the hat worn by Robert Redford while filming Milagro Beanfield Wars in Truchas, New Mexico not far from Taos.
More books Warhol, O'Keeffe, Higgins, Bistram, and the largest collection of signed and first edition Mabel Dodge Luhan books for sale ever put together.
A couple of photographs of Taos Pueblo, and a nice folk art type painting by Joe Louis Mirabal who signs his artwork Red Willow. Old bow and arrows from Jemez, a folk doll, Navajo Yei doll, and a Pueblo dance stick hang next to the door.
Nowadays in order to make ends meet you'll find me selling on Ebay as rosiethepinktoedcat.
If you spot anything in the pictures here that you would like to purchase I'd be more than Happy to send you a better picture of that object itself.
I'm also posting new items on Two Graces Facebook, please join it and thank you very much for your time.


Elizabeth Taylor & R.C. Gorman, and the Oscar goes to...


This glass statue was given to R.C. Gorman from Elizabeth Taylor.
The story goes that when Ms. Taylor received her third Academy Award in 1993 which was an honorary one from the Academy of Motion Pictures, R.C. said to her that since she had 2 already why not give him one. Well that wasn't about to happen, but to his surprise she had this glass statuette replica of an Oscar made for him, and presented it to him on her next visit to Taos.
Back in the day Elizabeth Taylor and Dennis Hopper would have crossed paths here in Taos during one of the RC salon parties. Of course they also knew each other from acting together in the 1956 film Giant, starring Taylor, James Dean & Rock Hudson.
It's said that Ms. Taylor was a great humanitarian. Being a spokesperson to help get recognition and funding for much needed AIDS research was a huge risk for someone of her caliber. She opened a lot of doors.
She saw the broader picture of how much her being a spokesperson meant to so many people. She also saw the smaller picture of how much a gift like this would mean to one of her very dear friends.

I've only very recently learned of this story and although I had posted this 'Oscar' in an earlier blog about the Gorman estate I thought it would be a nice thing to post here and now a few weeks after the death of Elizabeth Taylor. If someone is interested in purchasing this piece of memorabilia, please ask, it deserves to be displayed and in the proper collection, just ask.

*An update, the Elizabeth Taylor Foundation purchased the statuette for their collection.