PANAMA CITY, Fla. – Items from the estate of the late Dale and Patty Vining – hundreds of exotic and unusual objects, antiques and collectibles, gathered over the course of 17 years while Dale served as an agricultural attaché at four overseas U.S. embassies, from 1964-1981 – will be sold at auction on Saturday, February 27th, by The Specialists of the South, Inc., in Panama City.

The auction will be held in the firm’s gallery, at 544 East 6th Street, beginning at 8 a.m. Central time. Nearly all of the 500 lots will come from the Vinings’ estate, with a handful of other items also being offered from prominent local estates and collections. Internet bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com and Invaluable.com. Telephone and absentee bids will also be accepted.

Dale Vining served at U.S. embassies in Spain, Malaysia, Iran and Kenya during the 17-year span, and while there he and Patty would embark on sightseeing trips that took the couple literally around the world – to exotic destinations such as Borneo, Bali, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Thailand and New Zealand. Many items from these countries are in the sale. After Dale’s retirement, the couple settled in Lynn Haven, Fla. Both are deceased.

Patty was the bigger collector of the two (although Dale had a keen eye for objects he liked, too). Patty’s interests were many and varied, and she indulged them while on these trips, as well as in the host country of where Dale was assigned at the time. The first of these was Spain – Madrid to be more precise, and the year was 1964. The couple soon embarked on their first spending spree.

The first big purchase was Danish teak Mid-Century Modern furniture, to include a large dining table by Skovmand & Andersen with six dining chairs by Randers Mobelfabrik, a coffee table with the maker’s mark, nesting tables, end tables, living room and bedroom furniture, a coffee/tea cart, a china hutch, a marble table with wrought iron base, wooden labor (or birthing) chairs, large wooden book shelving units with teak veneer, and more.

Also bought in Spain were alabaster fruits, grape clusters and mushrooms; wood figures (some made from olive wood); several Lladro pieces (including a standing Don Quixote and a girl with umbrella and geese); large ceramic chargers, pierced for hanging (one showing a landscape, another a bullfight); oil paintings; brass and copper fondue pots; pitchers with ceramic glasses; and art glass pieces, including vases. A side trip to Lisbon, Portugal resulted in a passion for ceramic roosters and kitchen ceramic tile.

Other side trips followed: to Switzerland, where two cuckoo clocks (one still mint in the box) and some miniature carvings were purchased; to Holland, where Patty acquired Delft pottery; and England and Ireland, where ceramic houses were on the shopping list. Then, Dale got reassigned, in 1970, to Kuala Lumpur, capital city of the Southeast Asian country of Malaysia.

There, he and Patty bought Malaysian batik paintings and other artwork; a matching pottery vase and umbrella stand; two Mahjong games, in zippered cases, with tiles and wooden holders; a wooden Congklak boat shell game; a wooden jewelry box; a big brass floor gong; sterling place card holders; miniature brass perfume bottles; and two sets of brass flatware. A side trip to Bali resulted in Patty purchasing wooden sculptures and printed figures on cloth for framing.

Additional excursions were made to Bangkok, Thailand, where items including brass fingers and small brass cymbals for native dances were purchased; and Hong Kong, where the pair bought a dragon sculpture made of cash coins; a Chinese wooden head sculpture; brass home décor pieces; wooden abacuses and a Chinese lantern. Then came Dale’s third posting – to Tehran, the capital of Iran, in 1974.

Items bought there included an impressive pair of tall, floor-standing brass candlestick holders with wooden candles; a brass tray coffee table; a brass camel; wooden camel saddles; two miniature paintings in bone, one a sketch artwork; two ceramic plates with painted images of the Shah of Iran and his wife; a brass samovar (or urn); a brass Iranian coffee pot with accessories; and an impressive blue glass pitcher and six stems encrusted with gold decoration.

Gorgeous rugs were also purchased by the Vinings. One was an Egyptian flat-weave rug from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), discontinued; one was a large Iranian Tabriz rug with garden design, 12 feet 5 inches by 9 feet 9 inches; and two were uncut African rugs from Kenya, both of them truly tribal.

Nairobi, Kenya was Dale’s fourth and final assignment destination, in 1977. There, he and Patty acquired hand-carved ironwood (including a 40-inch-tall female floor carving, an 18-inch tall warrior figure, a mother with children people pole with exposed wood; and other figures); hand-carved beige Besmo sandstone candlesticks and pipe; hand-carved figurines, to include many busts; eight Ethiopian brass hand crosses and two wooden hand crosses; beautifully carved hair picks and combs, ranging in size from 7-24 inches; and a carved headdress.

Other items brought back from Africa include fertility-related carvings, many from the Ivory Coast, to include six fertility god statues; Kenyan wood carvings of animals and people; batik and bark paintings and artwork made out of butterfly wings; sculptures; multi-figural clay figurines; woven baskets; a large Zanzibar chest and a small Zanzibar jewelry chest; a Masai beaded necklace and earrings; and various African musical instruments.

Items purchased from various other places around the world will include bark paintings from Mexico; a Guatemalan yarn cross; four sets of Russian nesting dolls; a Roseville Zephyr Lily console bowl; an English Spode pitcher; German measuring cups; sterling and silver plate spoons from several different countries; a pair of New Zealand full-body carved male and female figures, 18 inches tall on a platform; carved miniature animals; and Dachshund dog figurines and collectibles.

Items the Vinings acquired in the United States will feature 1776 commemorative and 9/11 memorabilia; a full set of Ivy Franciscan ware; a 78-piece sterling silver International flatware set in the Pine Spray pattern; crystal bowls and vases; many Christmas items (including Christmas village sets); old costume jewelry; watches; cookbooks and many other books from around the world; a National Geographic updated centennial celebration book (1888-1988, Adventure and Discovery Years); and additional books from around the world, including books printed in German, to include a work by Franz Schultz Goethes.

Patty Vining was an avid music enthusiast, and included in the auction will be many wonderful music-related items, including a teak music cabinet with roll closure; many pieces of piano music; sheet music (some of it for duets and families, plus military-themed sheet music and rare and highly collectible sheet music from the 1930s and '40s); old record albums representing many genres; CDs and DVDs; and a huge collection Etude magazines from the 1920s-1940s. Patty was a church pianist for many years and was also a member of the My Fair Ladies singing group.

Items in the auction that aren't from the Vining estate will feature primitives (to include hand planes and a large, deep dough bowl, 38 inches long and 8 ½ inches deep); and a large DynaScope Newtonian-type reflector telescope with 4mm eyepiece.

Bidders from outside the Panama City area who are bidding online or by means other than live and on-site need to be aware that, unless other arrangements are made, all shipping is to be handled by The UPS Store. Estimates of shipping costs can be given prior to auction day; e-mail a request to store3015@theupsstore.com. See terms and conditions on the auction platform, at www.SpecialistsoftheSouth.com. All items will be sold as-is, where-is, and all sales are final. Terms are known checks, cash and major credit cards.

The Specialists of the South, Inc. has been serving the Panama City community for more than 35 years. The company specializes in a broad range of services, to include estate auctions, furniture refurbishing, interior decoration, personal property appraisals and business liquidation services. It has been named the Small Business of the Month by the Bay County Chamber of Commerce.

The Specialists of the South, Inc., is always accepting quality consignments for future sales. To consign an item, estate or collection, you may call them at (850) 785-2577, or you may e-mail them at contact@sospcfl.com. To learn more, or to register for the February 27th auction, log on to either www.SpecialistsoftheSouth.com or www.PanamaCityAuctions.com. Updates are posted often.

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