Squire Boone corner cupboard to be sold by Beckort Auctions Fresh from a historical estate, a Kentucky corner cupboard made by Squire Boone Jr. in 1799 will be sold by Beckort Auctions, LLC on Sept. 2-3 in Corydon, Ind.
Indiana, where Boone Township is named in his honor. Squire died in 1815 and was entombed in a cave he credited with saving his life, having once hid there when fleeing hostile Indians. That cave is now part of Squire Boone Caverns and Village.
Squire Boone's corner cupboard is just one of the historically significant artifacts in the Griffin collection. Other items in the September auction also have intriguing provenance, including a small Civil War cannon captured by Morgan's Raiders.
Made in Owensboro, Ky., in the early 1860s, the 13 1/2-inch-long cannon was owned by Jacob Bennett, an abolitionist and red-hot Republican who lived near Diamond Rock, Ky. Bennett is said to have used the cannon to protect his family and livestock. In July 1863 as Confederate General John Morgan and his cavalry troops advanced to the Ohio River on their way to the Battle of Corydon, the only Civil War skirmish fought on Indiana soil, members of Morgan's Raiders took the cannon. As the soldiers prepared to cross the river and move into Indiana, they reportedly buried the cannon in the riverbank for safekeeping. Days later it was retrieved, and, after the war, the weapon was sometimes loaned out by the new owner. In one instance at Payneville, Ky., it was shot in celebration of the ratification of President Benjamin Harrison. The percussive force shattered house windows and sent liquor bottles crashing to the floor in a local saloon. After the owner's death, the cannon was bought at auction by a southern-Indiana antique dealer who sold it to the Griffin family in 1927.
Other important items in the auction include a Civil War sword owned by Major William T. Jones and a handgun found at the Battle of Corydon. Also of interest are a George Washington engraving and signature; a 19th-century chest of drawers that belonged to Indiana's first governor, Jonathan Jennings; and a rolltop desk from Indiana's first state capital building at Corydon.
From the Constitutional Elm, the massive Corydon tree under which Indiana's first constitution was drafted in 1816, comes one of the largest slabs known, measuring 30 inches wide by 6 inches deep. Also from the elm tree are approximately 100 handmade items, including a tilt-top table.
Miscellaneous goods include furniture and displays from Maurice Griffin & Co., the dry goods store the Griffin family operated in Corydon for nearly a century, beginning in 1897; quality antique furniture and accessories; Indiana memorabilia and books, including some of local significance; Indian artifacts and Indiana artwork.
With the wealth of early and historical objects offered, all from the Griffin family and fresh to the market, the sale is expected to be as much an event as it is an auction. Adding credence to the sale is Griffin's reputation, which stretched well beyond Corydon. Three times -- in 1979, 1985 and 1998 -- he received the Sagamore of the Wabash award, the highest honor bestowed by an Indiana governor.
The two-day sale will be held on the Corydon courthouse
