~ Voodoo Priestess Estate ~ ©
Twenty-two and a half years have now passed since we were called to do an estate that had been closed up for seventeen years!
The Voodoo Estate!
Some Back Story
This type of call usually gets us excited as they are a treasure trove. Located here in Florida, there was no electricity or running water so we rigged our own lighting and in we went. If you have ever seen the Adams Family you will have some idea as to what we were greeted with! Then the attorney handling the liquidation gave us some background. The estate had belonged to an alleged powerful Voodoo Priestess/JooJoo Exorcist, grand daughter of a Marie Laveau, and favored daughter of a Marie Glapion.The Table
This is one of the coffee tables recovered from the Main Library of this estate. It is also one that our own Uncle Waddy took a liking to and it has served in one of his homes, offices, b&b and then in the warehouse for the last year since the b&b renovation where it was recently rescued from for use in his new home. Now, he has finally decided to sell it!
There were no journal or inventory ledger entries to attribute this table other than a 1961 journal entry referring to it as "the Persian vine table" in reference to the location of another item displayed on it while in the library of the estate.
Our own research failed to attribute a maker or a more definitive timeline of manufacture which we are guessing as late 1950's, to early 1960's.
Examination reveals a well made hand carved, Persian Vine motif, glass top coffee table that appears to be heavily lacquered wood. Unsigned, no maker or date marks. It is not mint, showing relatively minor signs of use despite its age.
It measures approximately 39 3/4"x 39 3/4" x 15 1/4" overall with an estimated weight of 50 lbs.
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Hedera colchica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia...for the most part
Hedera colchica is a species of ivy (genus Hedera) which is native to Near and Middle East. It is commonly called Persian ivy or colchis ivy. It is an evergreen climbing plant, growing to 30 m high where suitable surfaces (trees, cliffs, walls) are available, and also growing as ground cover where there are no vertical surfaces. It climbs by means of aerial rootlets which cling to the substrate. In warm climates, it grows more rapidly and becomes established faster than other Hedera species.
Description
The leaves are alternate, they are of two types, with palmately five-lobed juvenile leaves on creeping and climbing stems, and unlobed cordate adult leaves, lauroid type, on fertile flowering stems exposed to full sun, usually high in the crowns of trees or the top of rock faces. Stems are green. It has the largest leaves of any ivy to 15 cm wide and 25 cm long.
The flowers are produced from late summer until late autumn, individually small, greenish, produced in large numbers in umbels, and very rich in nectar, an important food source for bees and other insects. It flowers in September and fruits form during or after winter. The fruits are berries, globular and black when ripe. They are an important food for many birds. There are one to five seeds in each berry, which are dispersed by the birds swallowing the berries.
The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
H. colchica
'Dentata', commonly called Bullock's heart ivy, or Elephant's ears.
'Dentata variegata', synonyms 'Dentata aurea', 'Variegata'
'Sulphur heart', synonym 'Paddy's pride'
Ecology
It is a woody evergreen climbing shrub, which can grow in a range of conditions. It prefers well-drained or alkaline soils rich in nutrients and humus with good water provision, but is extremely tough and adaptable. Like many climbing plants, it prefers its roots in cool shade with its crown in full sun. It can live over 400 years, reaching heights of 30m where suitable surfaces (trees, cliffs, walls) are available. It climbs by means of aerial rootlets with matted pads that cling strongly to the substrate. Its favoured distribution is humid microclimates, such as cloud forest, stream valleys, and the mountain ranges on the Turkish coast of the Black Sea, Asia minor, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and some islands of the Red Sea.
Etymology
The ancient Latin name for Ivy.
Derived from the name ‘Colchis’ or ‘Colchidis’, a Caucasian area once famous for producing poisons.
This is truly a rare opportunity to own anything with attributes to this estate. The majority of this estate is now gone. Most of what we had left, and it was considerable, has been split up and sold to a couple of private, foreign collector practitioners and will never be available to the public again. We made the decision to do this as we have had some pretty strange visits from even stranger individuals and there have been enough unexplained phenomenon going on in the warehouse where her things were kept that many of our employees refused to go in there.
International Buyers, drop us an email and we will try to accommodate you.
Payment is due at listing end.
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