During an auction on the evening of March 7 at Government House, historian Mitch Kent held up a plastic-sheathed copy of an 1867 London newspaper containing a story about the wreck of the R.M.S. Rhone.
Its reserve price of $250 was quickly surpassed, and a bidding war ensued.
“Sold!” Mr. Kent announced at last. “For $600.”
The auction was part of a fundraiser that drew more than 100 people to the Old Government House Museum March 7.
Proceeds from the event — which also included a lecture on the Rhone delivered by Mr. Kent — will help complete repairs on the museum’s second floor, according to Museum Supervisor Nilsa Wheatley.
“I think it was a successful event,” Ms. Wheatley told the Beacon March 10. “I think that people really enjoyed it. We sold a number [of Mr. Kent’s] books on the Rhone and all of the auction items.”
Second flood
Since Hurricane Irma in 2017, the museum’s second floor has been closed to the public while it undergoes renovation.
Recently, however, enough work was completed to allow curious visitors at the Friday fundraiser to venture upstairs.
Opposition member Lorna Smith was among attendees who got a preview of the museum’s only climate-controlled room, which houses a collection of every Virgin Islands postage stamp going back to the territory’s first in 1866.
“This is amazing,” Ms. Smith exclaimed as she browsed the collection. “This is history through stamps.”
The collection was damaged during Irma, but it has recently been restored to its former glory, Ms. Wheatley said.
Bottoms up
Earlier in the evening, arriving guests were greeted at the Old Government House entrance by Museum Director Diane Drayton and Board Member Ermin Penn.
Just inside, Board Member Verna Penn Moll asked attendees to sign a guest book, marking their arrival before they filtered into the museum’s courtyard.
Wine, beer and mixed drinks awaited the guests as waitstaff deftly navigated the growing crowd with platters of seafood, cured meats, cheeses and other finger foods.
Later, attendees were asked to migrate from the museum to the courtyard of the nearby Government House.
There, Mr. Kent, who holds a PhD in archaeology, delivered a lecture that took attendees through the events leading up to the Rhone’s demise in a hurricane on Oct. 29, 1867, in the VI.
Artefacts from the wreck of the R.M.S. Rhone sit displayed on a table Friday evening during an even held to raise funds for the Old Government House Museum’s second-floor renovations. (Photo: RUSHTON SKINNER)
Packed into the Old Government House Museum’s courtyard, more than 100 residents mix and mingle during the “A Night at the Museum” fundraiser on Friday. (Photo: RUSHTON SKINNER)
Opposition member Lorna Smith attended the Friday auction at the Old Government House Museum and toured the postage stamp exhibit on the museum’s second floor. (Photo: RUSHTON SKINNER)
Then-Opposition Member Lorna Smith is guided by Nadia Menezes through the Old Government House Museum's stamp room March 7, containing each and every postage stamp released by the territory. (Photo: RUSHTON SKINNER)
Resolutely on display in the Old Government House Museum's stamp room, a postage-themed dress gives tourists an example of fashion and needlecraft in the Virgin Islands. (Photo: RUSHTON SKINNER)
The Old Government House Museum's stamp room was damaged in 2017 by Hurricane Irma, but has be restored to completion. (Photo: RUSHTON SKINNER)
Auction
After the lecture, Mr. Kent got the auction under way when he brought up the first lot of the night.
Items up for bid included art and historical artefacts featuring the wreck of the Rhone.
All told, $5,060 worth of items were sold, with George Wilkinson’s acrylic painting of the Rhone topping the auction after being sold for $1,500, according to Ms. Wheatley.
