folkartwork

UPDATE: The record for a Clemens sand bottle is actually $860,000

Earlier this week, an Andrew Clemens sand bottle from circa 1887 sold for $170,000. Commissioned by John and Margaret Leary of McGregor, Iowa, the bottle with stopper is 8 3/8 inches and 3 inches in diameter.

Compositionally, the bottle offered here corresponds most closely with the eighth standard ‘model’ from Clemens’s 1892 price list, described as ‘designs, sailing ship, names, and bouquet,’ which retailed for $4.00 at this full pint size.

Clemens created a known bottle nearly identical to the Allen bottle five years later at the request of Martha and William Van Ness of Cass, Michigan. Upon receipt of her bottle, which also features sailing ships and a floral wreath, Martha wrote to Clemens to inquire about his working methods.

In reply, on July 15, 1892, Clemens discusses the tools he used and notes that “it takes me 2 days to prepare a jar like yours.” The rapidity of his execution speaks to Clemens’s ability to render increasingly complex designs in a remarkably brief period, which was likely necessary to meet the growing demand for his “pictured rock sand.”

Hindman Auctions

Andrew Clemens (c. January 29, 1857 – May 14, 1894) was a sand artist from Iowa in the United States. Clemens formed his pictures by compressing natural colored sands inside chemists’ jars to create his works of art. At a young age, Andrew experienced encephalitis, which caused his lifelong deafness.

In the late 1800s, his artwork sold for $5–7 for a jar. A new record for a Clemens sand bottle was set in September of 2022, when a presentation bottle commissioned by Ezra Williams (circa 1883-1884) for ‘Williams and Upham Contractors for River and Harbor Improvements’ sold for $860,000 in Hindman’s online auction.