CLEMENS, Andrew

CLEMENS, Andrew. (Dubuque, IA, Jan. 29, 1857—McGregor, IA, May 12, 1894). Clemen's father was a locksmith and wagon-maker who moved the family to McGregor, Iowa, to take advantage of the business provided by the gold-rush and settlement of the west. (1) When he was five years old, Clemens had what his family called "brain fever" (encephalitis). After attending the Iowa school for the deaf-mute, he came home in the summers and started going to the MISSISSIPPI RIVER near McGregor, Iowa. (2) In what is today Pikes Peak State Park, the Paleozoic formations of the central United States form bluffs and gullies. The Ordovician St. Peter Sandstone is famously pure and white with well-rounded quartz grains providing the raw material for glass-making and other applications. (3)

At Pictured Rocks, however, waters percolating down through the overlying limestones carried a variety of minerals that stained the St. Peter Sandstone into as many as forty colors. (4) Clemens collected this colored sand, separated it into its different colors and then dried it.

The sand was poured into bottles with a special tiny homemade scoop holding one-fourth of a teaspoonful of sand. This scoop was fastened to a slender hickory wand nine and one-quarter inches long. With one hand he controlled the colored sands inside the bottle with a curved tool; he used a straight tool to measure the perspective on the outside of the bottle. He used four packers to press the grains of sand down tightly as he worked toward the mouth of the bottle. Since he used round-top bottles with the opening and stopper at the bottom, he had to do all of his intricate work upside down. The pictures or designs were held together in the bottle only by the pressure or the sand's own weight and the stopper of the bottle. (5) His images depicted geometric shapes, historical figures, flowers, and nautical scenes. They are crystal clear and vibrantly colored, and never used any glue. (6)

As his abilities grew so did his notoriety. His jars soon became fairly popular with orders coming from around Iowa and the rest of the country. Small jars sold for a dollar or two and larger ones sold for $6 or $8. (7) It is estimated that the artist produced hundreds of bottles during his lifetime, but much less than that survived. (8)

Auctioneer Wes Cowan sold the "Sweetheart Sandbottles," made for Helen Wimmler, Milwaukee and Henry Reinken, Manitowoe, (sic) Wis., in 2005 for $24,500. The same two bottles were sold on eBay on February 16, 2010 for $19,000 after five bids. In June 17, 2014 iGavel Auctions sold one of Clemen's bottles for $16,800 after two bids. (9) On July 13, 2015 Cowan's Auction sold one of Clemen's sandbottles for $23,000. (10)

Bottle appraised by C. Wesley Cowan on Antiques Roadshow (2002) for $4,000-6,000

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Source:

1. "Grain-by-Grain: The Amazing Sand Bottles of Andrew Clemens," Through the Sandglass. Online: http://throughthesandglass.typepad.com/through_the_sandglass/2009/01/grainbygrain-2-the-amazing-sand-bottles-of-andrew-clemens.html

2. "19th Century Sand Art by Andrew Clemens," Antiques Roadshow--Roadshow Archives, Online: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/200203A34.html

3. "Grain-by-Grain,"

4. Rischmueller, Marian Carroll. "McGregor Sand Artist," State Historical Society of Iowa: The Palimpsest, May 1945 issue (Vol. XXVI, No. 5), Online: http://clipclop.tripod.com/andrew/dox/sandartist.html

5. Downing, Glen Ray. "Seeing the World in Grains of Sand," Idaho State Journal, July 6, 1973, Online: http://clipclop.tripod.com/andrew/dox/sandgrains.html

6. Barnes, Sara. "Intricately-Detailed Sand Art from the 19th Century Made Without Using Glue," Online: http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/andrew-clemens-sand-art

7. "The Sand Art of Andrew Clemens," Redtree Times. Online: http://redtreetimes.com/2011/02/20/the-sand-art-of-andrew-clemens/

8. Downing

9. iGavel Auctions. Online: http://bid.igavelauctions.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=3455727

10. Daryl Mozena and JustCollecting.com. Online: https://www.justcollecting.com/miscellania/andrew-clemens-sand-bottle-brings-23-000-to-cowans