Authors: Ali Fujino
Date Submitted: November 30, 2008
Article Type: Discourse

Among all the kite items that we have amassed in our 13 years as the Drachen Foundation, the Cody Collection has been one of our most interesting.

What has happened since 1996?

After the auction, our purchases were shipped back to Seattle by Sotheby’s of London. The cargo went by sea, and we anxiously awaited its arrival. Like any shipment, the items were subject to customs clearance, and without much difficulty, all the items were safely delivered to our front door. Unfortunately, the small house that weoperated in at that time was not equipped to take 25-foot-long spars. We had no choice but to break down the crates on our sidewalk and hand carry the large kites into the house.

Stabilizing the collection was the first matter of operation. We were sad to find that the original Sotheby auction numbers (tags) had almost all fallen off the correct pieces. Having those numbers were the best identification system for the items, as they were the first numbers assigned to the pieces since brought to the public. (For almost 83 years, these pieces were in storage, owned by the Cody heirs.)

Page Number: 20
PDF Link: Discourse Issue