A SPECTACULAR ART NOUVEAU SILVER AND COPPER HISTORIC WINE COOLER TROPHY, HEINTZ ART METAL,

A SPECTACULAR ART NOUVEAU SILVER AND COPPER HISTORIC WINE COOLER TROPHY, HEINTZ ART METAL, BUFFALO, NEW YORK, 1911. Resting on a slightly raised and domed circular base overlaid with a repeating pattern of linked rhythmic silver stylized water lily blossoms upon which rests the cooler on four bracket feet and with slightly flared rim. The sides set with sturdy organic bracket form handles overlaid with silver berry twigs and the floor of cooler with drain hole. The verso overlaid with an expansive pierced silver silhouetted scene of a motor boat race with a lighthouse on the distance shore, clouds and framed in scrolling foliage in the Art Nouveau taste. The front with a similar flowing organic silver overlay framed cartouche and engraved, “Won by Courier II William J. Conners –Speed Boat Race- Buffalo Yacht Club 1911.” The verso engraved, Presented by Edward Smith. Width 27 inches (68.5 cm). Height 11.75 inches (30 cm).

The winner of the 1911 Buffalo Yacht Club Speedboat Race, William James ‘Fingy’ Conners, some would say was a rapscallion of epic proportions, evocative of like characters that sprung forth from Tammany Hall. His winning speedboat “Courier II” was named after one of the two Buffalo daily newspapers he owned-The Buffalo Daily Courier. Conners was born in Buffalo in 1857, son of Peter Conners, who was born and raised in Canada and his wife, Mary Scanlan, a native of Ireland. From an early age Conners became involved in most every enterprise in the Buffalo New York area, from real estate to construction, publishing to politics and he would eventually control the entirety of shipping on all five Great Lakes, the bulk of the US and Canadian grain trade (Conners enjoyed dual citizenship), and the leadership of the Democratic Party of the most populous and wealthy state, New York —all concurrently. He owned mansions in Buffalo, on Long Island, and Palm Beach, sailed magnificent yachts and raced his speedboats in competitions, and after discovering that vast tracts of Florida marshland he’d purchased were inaccessible, constructed the famed Conners Highway through the impenetrable Everglades in record time and under budget. Conner lived hard and fast marrying four times, and died at the age of 72, just two weeks before the Crash of 1929.

The Heintz Art Metal works was founded in Buffalo, New York by native Otto Heintz who in 1902 started the Art Crafts Shop and began designing and manufacturing copper items with colored decoration. By 1906 he changed the name to Heintz Art Metal Shop, and shifted to bronze as the base material and sterling silver as ornamentation. Heintz would be awarded three patents in his field including the definitive patent for applying sterling silver to bronze without solder. Heintz’s line consisted of vases and bowls, candlesticks, trophies, lamps, desk accessories, picture frames, bookends and jewelry sold through higher end gift stores and outlets throughout the United States. Otto Heintz died suddenly on January 10, 1918 and the company continued for only another 12 years until finally succumbing to the Great Depression on February 11, 1930.

The presenter of the trophy, whose name is engraved on the offered lot, “Edward Smith” was, in the year 1911, the Commodore of the Buffalo Yacht Club.

Jackson’s would like to thank Mr. Charlie Obersheimer of the Buffalo Yacht Club for assisting with the cataloging of this lot.

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