A 410-foot, 360-degree panoramic painting depicting the Battle of Gettysburg was purchased in the 1960s by North Carolina artist Joseph Wallace King (d. 1996).

The famous 1883 cyclorama (another version is at the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center) was bought directly by King from the "Cyclorama King" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Emmett W. McConnell. Known as a showman, McConnell commissioned the large-scale works to attract crowds to round building venues around the world.

King gave the Gettysburg cyclorama in his will to Wake Forest University. It was reportedly sold in 2007 for an undisclosed amount. King's widow, Deborah King, says she now is offering five other monumental works for sale that King also purchased from McConnell.

Three works are said to be from a series by Edward James Austen. They are gouache on gessoed canvas depicting battleship scenes titled “Bon Homme Richard and Starpis,” “Death Struggle Between Monitor and Merrimack” and “Fleets of the World Entering San Francisco Harbour.” The estimates are in the six figures.

A 21-foot wide panel “The Monitor and the Merrimack” is also offered, along with a Civil War-era portrait.

The five works have been in storage for decades and will come up for sale in an unconventional auction this month. Deborah King's attorney Phillip Jones at Pivotal Legal Services in Florence, Italy, is taking bids. Details can be found online: http://jwkauction.pivotal.ly/