Seller Story: Peter and Betty Carroll, Oxford, MD

Peter Carroll: I was a Naval aviator until 1976 and got to travel a lot, especially in the Far East. Betty had also traveled a great deal as well. We were married in 1978.
Betty Carroll: My traveling was more like, I’d read about the heating system in Reykjavik, Iceland, and I’d think it would be interesting, so off I’d go. There was no rhyme or reason!
B: Our first trip together was our honeymoon. We went to Paris for two weeks. That got us started.
P: In the Navy I became interested in Japanese art. So in my various cruises overseas I would save money to buy woodblock prints. When Betty and I married, we began collecting together.
B: I choose certain things in the same family, but I don’t consider myself a collector. I admire other people with huge collections, but I don’t want so many things. We do adore Piranesi, so when we see that, we buy it.
P: We haven’t gone beyond woodblocks and botanicals and Piranesi. We had a dog named Tulip, so we always bought flower arrangements. The botanicals in the sale come out of an English book. On the back of those pictures are pages describing each of the prints.

P: I had an office in London, and we went to Paris and Beirut of course. We spent five years in Saudi Arabia, so that was an opportunity for a lot of travel. The dress in the sale was given to Betty by a wealthy Saudi family as a gift.
P: One day we were talking about the importance of Christmas and the papal celebration in St. Peter’s Square, so we decided to go to Rome for Midnight Mass.
B: Italy is one of our favorite places. It will be our 15th trip there this spring.
P: After dinner, we got into the queue of people crossing the Tiber to St. Peter’s. With all the different languages and customs and smells, it was a wonderful experience. We didn’t walk back to our hotel until 3 a.m.

P: My father purchased the Chinese robe from an heir to the Burlingame family. Anson Burlingame was Abraham Lincoln’s minister to China. After he died, in gratitude for his services, China gave his widow this costume. It was packed away in a box for years, and after my mother died, we decided to do something about it. We retained someone from the Smithsonian who restored it and prepared the mounting frame. In the previous house we lived in, there was no place to display it that she approved of—a place that was out of direct sunlight. So she kept it for us for five years until we found a new house. That’s how much she loved that robe.

What are some of your favorite travel spots?

We’ve taken some wonderful trips to Morocco, over the Atlas Mountains into the Sahara. Marrakech is particularly exciting. Also several trips to Portugal, from Lisbon to the mountains and all the way up the coast to Porto and up the Douro River. –Peter

What are some other highlight pieces in the collection?

I’m selling an ancient gold coin. You can wear it on a necklace or as a pin. It’s of Arsinoe, the wife of Ptolemy. Ptolemy was a close friend of Alexander the Great. They grew up together and they studied under Aristotle. Can you imagine? I bought it in Athens. It was the 60s. Everyone was wearing long beads and coins, and I happened to go by this antique jewelry store, and I saw it and bought it right there. –Betty

What about the Asian prints?

There’s a very large silk scroll in a tall case, a copy of an earlier scroll. The artist that did this particular rendition worked for Chiang Kai-shek in rounding up art of great value from mainland China and taking it to Taiwan. The other Chinese pieces are import pieces. My family owned a hotel in Old Lyme, CT, which had been the home of a sea captain. He brought those back from trips in the 1800s. –Peter

Did the boat-related pieces come from the sea captain too?

Most of that was ours. For many years, Betty and I cruised on Chesapeake Bay in a 42-foot trawler. The compass, though, was given to me when I was maybe eight years old. It comes from the original Abercrombie and Fitch store in New York. And the protractor is near and dear. That was owned by the U.S. government and used on bombers during WWII by navigators as they crossed the ocean. Anybody that’s an aviation buff and interested in the boating world would find it a wonderful addition to their boat. –Peter