Page 6 - March 15 2017 The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection
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THE RUTH AND CARL BARRON COLLECTION

        OF FINE CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES: PART IV

Carl and Ruth Barron  Ruth (1916-2001) and Carl (1916-2014) were beloved members of the
                      International Chinese Snuf Bottle Society (ICSBS). Active, engaged and
                      discerning collectors, the Barrons amassed an impressive collection of Chinese
                      snuf bottles in a period of just over twenty years. After Ruth passed away
                      in 2001, Carl continued collecting on his own, meticulously cataloguing the
                      collection in a database with photos and information on each bottle.

                      Residing outside of Boston, the Barrons were fxtures in the Cambridge business
                      community, where they were very active in local philanthropy. A true American
                      entrepreneur, Carl started his own furniture-leasing business in 1938, after
                      seeing the dificulty his Harvard Business School classmates had in furnishing
                      short-term apartments. The frst business of its kind, his idea sparked an entire
                      industry. Once married, Carl and Ruth worked side by side. On his desk at his
                      ofice in the Barron Building in Cambridge’s Central Square, Carl’s nameplate
                      read, “Carl F. Barron, Assistant to the Boss.” Ruth’s read simply, “The Boss.”

                      The list of their philanthropic contributions to the community is long and diverse,
                      ranging from founding faculty chairs at Bowdoin College and Cambridge
                      College, supporting academic studies at the University of Haifa in Israel, to
                      creating the Barron Center for Men’s Health at Mount Auburn Hospital, to
                      funding prostate cancer checks for all the police and freman in Cambridge and
                      surrounding communities, and seemingly countless more gestures of giving
                      back to the community.

                      As collectors the Barrons explored many categories, including Wedgewood
                      porcelain, Japanese Meiji-period art, American and Moser glass and stamps.
                      Carl’s passion for snuf bottles came later in his life, but his enthusiasm for
                      and dedication to the feld is evident in his choice of bottles. The ICSBS annual
                      convention in Boston in 2008 featured a symposium on his collection, where
                      Hugh Moss, Clare Chu, Robert Hall and Robert Kleiner each selected a topic on
                      which to speak, illustrating their points with choice examples from the Barron
                      collection. An exhibition of highlights from the collection accompanied the
                      symposium, some of which are included in this sale.

                      It is Christie’s great honor to present the Barron Collection of fne Chinese snuf
                      bottles to a new generation of collectors.

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