Page 6 - Carl Barron Snuff Bottle Collection, CHRISTIE's Spet 12 2018

THE RUTH AND CARL BARRON COLLECTION
OF FINE CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES: PART VI

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
Carl and Ruth Barron
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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