Show Yi'-n- iiTiryMiiiil8tl-tl- i The Herald Journal Logan Ulan Wednesday October 9 1996 Page 17 Queen ‘headhunter’ doesn’t mind all the stares By Scripps Howard News Service With a house lull nl vjscs shaped like heads you'd think Kathleen Cole would IitI she's being watched all the time “No not really” she suvs Bui she concedes not cvciyonc shaies her nonchalance "Somebody" was telling me lhal their guest mom hud a lol of head vases in it One guest said I'm not sleeping in that room with all those pen pic watching me'" Cole's collection of IKOO flower vases is displaced in lour looms and a hallway of her Memphis home Cole is regarded us a leading authoiity on head vases She knows so much about Queen "' Cordon who lives in Scarsdale NY began collecting head vases alter buying a few ol them and a copy of Cole's ftrsl book “It was Kathleen's hook that made them so eolleclible because without a reference it's hard to buy or sell or trade You know you need a starling point some idea of the value" Cole has been collecting objects since she was a child “I was born and raised in the country We were poor and didn't huv e anything 1 remember when I was a kid we used to go to my aunt's house They had a boarding house She had old dishes and cake stands and plates and all that kind of stuff We had very little in the way of ‘ things "' them that she's written two books In 195 she married Jack Cole a com"Head Uvcv " and "The neyehtn-diof Head laxcs " consideied bibles to colmercial builder She worked at a stamp lectors 'Jtie bright vases shaxd like the and coin shop for 23 years and collected heads of movie stars babies animals stamps for a while But delicate objects and glamour girls with necklaces and captivated her “All my life I've loved pretty things I earrings were popular among flmists s from the 1940s to the collected Nippon porcelain made in They began to decline in popularity lor Japan before the war Then I went from a couple of reasons: They didn't hold lhal when we could afford it to art enough flowers and many people decidglass But the Nippon became so expen-si- v ed they were ugly But the vases which e and so did the art glass The scarcity used to sell for pennies in dime stores of it was another thing' A woman who collected head vases now can sell for thousands ol dollais A Marilyn Monroe head vase sold lor inspired Cole to start looking for some S2KCK)’ Iasi e "It wasn't long before I was bitten year in Orlando I lu Script Howard photo In those days I had no idea how Cole's vases which she began collectare made ol various ing in the mid-'70- s many there were 1 still don't I'd say Memphis collector Kathleen Cole teels at home among 1 800 glamour girl vases imported from Japan after World War II materials including ceramic poiccluin lens of thousands of different ones' She searched fix them at florist shops Cole wiote a publishing company and and w ime the captions clay and then look molds of them bisque chalk and papier-machCole originally wanted to title her secSome florists let her pick out what she Artists copied each other's creations asked if they'd be interested in a book ( ompiling the book was great therapy Head vases also were made in the "Ihey wrote me back and said Thank "1 was working six days a week at the ond book “A Head of Her Junes " but w anted frum their back rooms Cole has United States Belly lziu Nichols made you very much Ibis i ton specialized the publisher nixed that idea Still the found some with the original tags stamp shop 1 would run home and shoot " title would be perfect for her autobiograsome photographs take those and have People couldn't understand why she them in the '40s on her kitchen table in We would not he interested' California Cole's husband died in 19K4 of cancel them developed determined the prices phy since conventions newslelleis and collected them “My friends would say 1 he In the market in the area where 1 was at collectors began to spring up after her 'Oh I had one of those and I thought it day alter Chnstriias ol that year Among the most common head vases first Nxik was published in IWN9 women with Cole got a call lioni the publishing comwas the ugliest thing I'd ever seen and 1 are the saucy-lookin- g the lime - - Nashv ille Memphis" “We consider her bonks the biblc of gave it to Goodwill' or 'I put that in the closed eyes arched eyebrows and pany she had talked to earlier asking if 'Hungs took oil after the book came mouths she was still interested in doing a honk out: newsletters wetc published and the head vases everybody keeps them at garbage Somebody sent it to me with flowers in it'" their bedsides" says Muddy Cintdon Although some crude head vases aie on head vases “It was a godsend n had first Head Hunleis Convention was held Head Hunters Newsletter published editor and publisher ol Mead Hunters Head vases became popular after still made the production of the vases been a humble year I'm me" It took hei nine months to complete Newsletter and managei and promoter of World War II when they were imported basically slopped about 19M says Cole quarterly has more than 75(1 subscribers the honk liecause she did all the wining but ( ole thinks there are many more The Head Hunters C onvention “She from Japan to the United States says “Nobody wanted them anymore" look all the photographs mounted them After she had collected about 300 was the beginning We all call her 'Hie Cole The Japanese carved the heads in head-shape- mid-'Hi- big-tim- e 1 heart-shape- d Looking for classic clothing? Try auctions in London lections while large fashion By The Financial Times houses are buying benchmark pieces to fill gaps in their own Clothing auctions have become big business While the rnatkcl for costume may never yield the prices of fine art it is nevertheless increasingly lucrative In 1971 the record lor a garment sold at auction was just under SI 20(1 for a 17411s embroidered wedding dicss Now it is $00500 lor an calls 17th century gentleman s silk doublet sold by Christie's in I9N9 The clothing battle lines aie drawn during London fashion Week this fall when the biannual ready-to-we- ar collections archiv es or mount exhibitions ‘"There are three types of buyer" says Kerry Taylor Sothe-by'- s textile expert “museums ho buy to display dealers who buy to resell and a small group of people w ho buy to wear w "By lar the largest end of the market consists of professional dealers They buy garments photograph them beautifully possibly spend a lot of time lesearching them and preparing dossiers and then approach in South Kensington I with the auction ol costume and jewelery by Christie's Contemporary designers seem obsessed with reviving the past Yet all the while the original is there for the bidding at a I rail ion of the cost The trade is brisk i’nvale and trade collectors are cagci loi garments from a ceiituiv that is about to end driv mg the already competitive market l antique clothing Museums lrom Japan to Norway want to expand then col cides on-do- customers still include major lashion houses such as Karl ligcrfeld Christian Dim Anna Sui Velazquez" For serious collectors of haute couture top labels include Balenciaga Schiaparelli and Madclcinc Yionnet Vionnct may not be a household name but Christie's sold beaded creation loi Mote affordable yet equally collec a $26000 in June 1995 nt agrees "Coutuii huge comeback is making a With the approach ol the millennium think X'ople want to own something that will ncvci lx created again The biggest joy ol n all is that you can actually wcai these clothes and hok even mole con-tevotary and moJern than in the clothes ol today “With haute coutuii the interior ol the garment is as important to the exterior It makes you feel irnporani a- - well as individual I : Vi he o! J loi k k clothes I am looking r beauty cut and the au hiiecture "I the 1 ! 1 dress Many ol the mine unusual garments have become like fine an paintings or photographs that capture a period in history" Taylor says: "1 think lhat the novice buyer should look for the extraordinary in everything" But she adds: “The garment should be lrom the designer's heyday it should be unaltered and in perlect condition For instance rl you brought me a ‘Tin Chtis'ian Dim I would not Ik interested because it is past its sell-b- y dait '' Where Can Von Rake In High Rales Today? Donna Karan Christian EDUCATION IS FOR OUR FUTURE table labels include Christian Dior Givenchy Yves Saint Ijiu-reand Vivienne Westwood Patricia frost an associate director ol Christie's who specializes in costume and textiles says: "The key to buying successfully is to find something that II is distinctive and a diess turned heads in the N5ns it will still tun heads today Isabella Blow stylist and contributing editor of Biitish ogui a museum to sell the garments on at a huge profit" Healers however are facing more competition “Buy ing at auction has become very difficult because of the increased interest from museums lashion houses and private collectors'" says Mark Steinberg of Steinberg & lolkcin a vintage clothing emporium on King's Road Chelsea "However my coin- Lacroix and Jean Paul Gaultier "Designers buy from me to study the garments and use them as tools for learning just as Francis Bacon would have gone to the National Gallery to study K - Mate Thai Everyday! Education of our children and voting adults is our passport to the future et our legislature has consistently underfunded education at both the and college levels The result has been mediocre students and has forced performance by out financial hardships on our college students llprn 1 CiTiiliriiir lmimii hi Uiimin iirsi llmlii llnimi k-- 12 2 to accommodate propose that education be funded teacher salaries consistent with at least the national to levels that average that class sizes be reduced students might receive individual attention that schools be provided with adequate operating budgets and that college tuition be reduced so that our young adults can achieve the proficiency necessarv to meet the technological demands of our society We AMERICAJNtDNFIRST GTE DEMOCRAT CRED-- Help us achiew our educational goals loin the CD Club Call 24544M t I COPY i I Jf " mt m — m m — — |