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Vol 61 'Jl[o. 45 'Iuescfay, 57Lprif 15, 1997 Section of 1Jie Safem 9\&ws statue vandali d, creation restored By Lois Firestone remade them. HE BRASS LIFELIKE FIGURE The locations of Pelzer's other Lincoln's have been T of the 16th president was in pretty much documented. One was donated to the sorry shape. The head was flattened, the body state of_ IAbraham Lincoln stood was peeled open. assoc~a~on pr~side?t Henry B. Joy. Too large for the Over it all was slathered layers of black paint. assocration offices ill placed in the reception room of James Mullins had donated the statue to the Col­ the Packard Motor Co. in Detroit. In 1936, the dealer lege of Wooster in an impressive ceremony in front gave it to Detroit area Boy Scouts. · · of the university's Kauke Hall on Oct. 1, 1915. James Lincoln's statue was placed in front of the Lincoln­ was the father of ornamental statue and cornice mak­ Mercury Division of Ford Motor in Detroit in er Will Mullins of Salem, and resided in Wooster. Anoth~r 1919,_ and is still in place. The inscription on the bronze plaque at the base A Lillcoln likeness, dedicated at Wilkinsburg, Pa. read: "Lincoln, With Malice Toward None With o~ June 9, 1916, stood at the junction of the Lincoln C~arity for all, With Firmness in the Right ~s God High~ay and Penn Avenue, and is being restored. Gives Us to See the Right: This Statue was Presented The city park at Fremont, Neb., along the Lincoln to the College of Wooster, June. 1915 by James Highway, is the site of another Pelzer. Mullins." ' As the highway sparked interest, so did the Lin­ The artist who sculpted the six-foot statue in the coln_ st~tue on the Wooster campus. Soon after the late 1890s was Alfons Pelzer, who ran the Pelzer Art dedication, the statue attracted the attention of Co. along with his brother in their plant at 78 Depot prankst~rs. Abe was frequently found dressed in an St., today 295 S. Ellsworth Ave. Their monuments, outland1~h costu~e, and students enjoyed sneaking figures and ornaments were crafted of wood, stone to the site overnight and kidnapping it. and metal. The Pelzers produced carved mantles Each year's batch of students tried to outdo the stairways, bookcases and doors for churches, oper~ previous colYegiates and maintenance workers were houses, hotels and homes. frustrated trying to find the hidden - and weighty Pelzer cast at least seven copies from his original - bronze statue. To discourage would-be abductors mold made for the Mullins Co. The first statue was they filled it with sand. During heavy winters th~ ordered by the town council of Lincoln, N. J. in 1898 moisture in the sand froze and expanded eventually - the statue still exists. breaking the seams. ' Others were to follow, and many created by other University ofi?.cials moved the statue to a slope artists, including Gutzon Borglum who carved the near the Me~110nal Chapel in 1923, with ivy-covered faces on Mount Rushmore. But these craftsmen stone walls m the background. Later it was moved created Abe for a specific cause. near the library. The Lincoln Highway was to be the first paved Eventually the statue ended up leaning against a road extendi!1!? across the country between the wall in the men's restroom under Severance Sta­ . oceans. Its ongmator was Carl Fisher the business­ diuJ?. Retired regis~ar Lee Culp remembered the man who founded the Indianapolis M~tor Speedway earher days when Lillcoln was a stately visage on and later developed Miami Beach as a resort area. He campus. Determined to restore the figure, he went told anyone who would listen: "A road across the for help to a local blacksmith, Stewart Simonds who United States; let's build it before we're too old to had worked with metal sculptures and previously enjoy it." d~n~ restoration work for the college. One of his ongmal works, a metal bird, stands on the grounds A Good Roads Movement had started in 19021 but had bogged down. Two years later, not.a single mile between the Timken Gymnasium and the Lowry Stu­ of . paved road was to be found anywhere in the dent Center. country, even though Henry Ford's Model T, coming Simonds moved the statue to his workshop near off assembly lines in 1908; made an auto affordable Wooster, and assessed how he could bring it back. to thousands. And with the ability to buy their own At least, he thought, the brasswork was free of bullet car came dreams of adventurous travel. holes. Th~ first thing he did was to strip its nine lay­ ers of paillt. ~uts mak~rs, ~ways interested in selling more of their machilles, started pushing for a concrete . After l~a:ning more about metal sculpting, creat­ "Coast to Coast Rock Road." At the time only 28 of illg spec1ahzed tools and sending to England for those he couldn't make, he set to work. To copy the ~he 48 states were setting aside money for road unprovements. The industry's leaders formed the miss~g hands and feet accurately, he drove to Lincoln Highway Assocfation in 1913, triggering the Detrmt to se~ the Pelzer statue at the Ford plant use of every public relations trick in the book. One there. He crafted them from sheet bronze, using was to name it in memory of the fondly remembered hammers and carved wooden forms. Lincoln. When the work is completed, the statue will be Mullins originally planned to make more of the moved close to the original site where it first stood decades ago. st~~es for placement along the highway, but the The statue, sans one hand in the workshop of ongmal molds were lost in a fire and Pelzer never Next week: The Lincoln Highway blacksmith Stewart Simon~ 'Y'estert{ears . 'Iuesiag, 9.pr115 1997

on In• By Associated Press is impossible to put a price to r[.,HE SHAH OF SHAS IS such a collection because it con­ JL long gone from Iran, but tains a large number of very hi:: Peacock Throne remains, big stones that have never come on the market." pr.~·t of a stunning collection of The jewels also were on dis­ cr~wn jewels that evokes the ir:-. 'Jerial Persian past of today's play during the shah's reign, re: olutionary Iran. but the vault was kept closed .Jiamonds, rubies, emeralds to the public during the Islamic sz. :'phires, pearls and othe; revolution and the 1980-88 war lFHS glitter in the tens of thou­ with Iraq. s::. ds in a cavernous walk-in "During . the revolution the Vccctlt at Bank Melli. Tourists safety of the collection couldn't be guaranteed because so many a::~ allowed to view the dazzli­ people had arms and there was ~· .?; display as part of the Islam­ so much chaos," said Ghajar, a lC 5overnment' s effort to attract fc eign visitors and their cash. descendant of the ruling Qajar T.:-.e collection contains over dynasty that preceded the Pah­ lavis. "The collection was he ~f the world's largest cut dia­ monds - some as big as wal­ closed during the war due to concerns about Iraqi bombing ~uts. In size, number and qual­ This .scene of Walnut Street in Lisbon was taken in March 1907 but looks pretty much the ity, the emeralds outshine any raids." way it looks ~oday. The building in the foreground is the present-day Lepper Library. Photo display elsewhere. And a During the 1979 revolution, om Rudd Wilson numerous pric~less antiquities fr 500-car_at red ~pinel - a ruby fro~ the Persian empire - look-alike - is believed to be the world's biggest. which once rivaled Greece and The gem-encrusted Peacock Rome - were smuggled out Gir#~ calendars part of the past Throne was used by the last an~ ended up in Europe and Asia. By Associated Press ~~s swi~su~~ calendar, called scantily clad women could do monarch, Mohammad Reza UTCH HOFFMAN OP- Me:~aids, ,about five years so at most garages or barber Pahlavi, who was ousted in the Iranian visitors often ask why the shah didn't make off Bens the door of his repair ag?. We don t want to do any- shops. 1979 Islamic revolution. He had shop in Richmond, Va., walks thmg that would make a . . . crowned himself Shah of Shahs with some jewels when he fled past the oily hoists and red tool woman coming into our stores t 'rialter a in 1979. iacao~, ~echaruc or king of kings, while sitting chests and shows off a bit of unco~fortable," Ginsburg said. ~ ance :nxacho m Richmond, on the throne in 1967. The answer is the king of endangered Americana - an . This year will be the first deeps a sm c eese~ake calen­ kings didn't have access to the If ~e collection has a piece auto parts calendar featuring without two staples of a t arlbtaped to the side of his cro~n jewels. They became 0 0 de resIStance, it is the Darya'e sultry, nearly naked models mechanic's life, the bikini ?, ~· Noor (Sea of Light), a flawless public property in 1926 when For decades, the calend~rs calendar and "Parts Pups" '~ kind. of hate t.o see them pink diamond the size of a his father, Reza Khan, turned had been as much a part of ser- magazine given out by NAPA go, he said, t}J.~mbmg through matchbox. It is estimated to them over to Bank Melli as col­ vice stations as wrenches and parts dealers around the coun- ~he cal;nd~. I ve ~ot some at weigh 175 to 195 carats but has lateral for issuing bank notes. screwdrivers. try. The magazine titillated ,ome ve een saving because never been removed from its The collection's most impor­ But times have changed. mechanics with photos of ~ m s~e they'll be collectors t<;nt gems, including the Dary­ ~iamond-encrusted, gold set­ by bad publicity and women in bat1:IDg suits, and items. a e I';Joor, were brought back by Sh~ed tmg to determine its exact worried about offending amused them with short fiction weight. Persian ruler Nadir Shah after Arbaugh-Pearce he sacked Delhi, capital of increasingly powerful female pieces and jokes. What is all this worth? customers, most car-parts and NAP A's new publications "The collection has never . Moghul India, in 1739. eerii~ert The Darya'e Noor has a his­ tool manufacturers have are a little drier - focusing on r Funeral been appraised," said Moha­ stopped distributing the shock absorbers, new tools and G tory ?f more than 350 years Home mad Ali Ghahremani Ghajar, a ch~esecake calendars. the p~ol'.er w~y to change researcher at Iran's Central and is surpassed in size by only five diamonds. The reason is real simple. In transm1ss10n flmd. .AAYJGAEENISEN 332-4401 Bank who has an encyclopedic today's marketplace you can't P~~ts companies say that the OWNER knowledge of the collection. "It What makes it even more PERSONAL RECORDS fascinating is that it was cut afford to alienate any custom- dec1s10n to drop the calendars from a much larger stone. er," said Scott Ginsburg, direc- reflects changing tastes. & PLANNING BOOK The French traveler and tor of advertising for Raleigh The calendars were a big­ Because your last wishes jeweler Jean Baptiste Tavernier N.C.-based General Parts Inc., a attraction in the days before are so important member company of national pornography could be found in reported s~eing the original r .. :::;: This FREE 300-carat diamond for sale in tool and parts distributor every corner shop, video store / ~j India in 1642. Carquest. or the Internet. Back then men I Record General Farts discontinued. who wanted to ogle photos of . ! 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