Muskoka, Antiques and Tom Thomson

ANTIQUES, OLD BOOKS, SAGE ADVICE AND TOM THOMSON

COLLECTOR AND HISTORIAN, WRESTLING OVER OLD BOOKS…..TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL……AND IT'S BEEN THIS WAY SINCE THE BEGINNING OF MY ANTIQUE HUNTING

THE REASON FOR SPENDING SO MUCH COLUMN TIME, ON MY APPRENTICESHIP WITH DAVID BROWN, BOOK COLLECTOR, HISTORIAN, OUTDOOR EDUCATION TEACHER, LEGENDARY GAD-ABOUT, IS THAT EVERYONE IN THE COLLECTING, ANTIQUE ENTERPRISE, HAS BEEN MENTORED BY SOMEONE….TUTORED ABOUT THE INDUSTRY, AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT POST SECONDARY EDUCATION. "IN-THE-FIELD LEARNING, BY WATCHING THOSE SAGE OLDTIMERS, WORKING THE AUCTIONS, HUSTLING ABOUT THE SHOPS, AND MAKING THOSE RAPS UPON DOORS, THAT CAN PROVE SO LUCRATIVE IN THE ANTIQUE TRADE. WHILE THERE ARE THOSE WHO WON'T ADMIT IT, INSISTING THAT THEY'RE "SELF MADE," IT'S A RARITY LET ME TELL YOU. EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T HAPPEN TO ASK FOR A TUTOR, OR GET ONE AS AN ACT OF KINDNESS, FROM VETERANS OF THE PROFESSION, THE POINT IS, SOMEONE CAUGHT YOUR ATTENTION, SUCH THAT IT WAS "A STUDY IN PROGRESS" EVEN WITHOUT THE GIVE AND TAKE OF A FORMAL INSTRUCTIONAL RELATIONSHIP.

WE ALL REMEMBER HOW WE BEGAN, THE MISTAKES WE MADE, MONEY WE LOST, AND THOSE WE LOOKED UP TO AS SUCCESSFUL COLLECTOR / DEALERS. THE BUSINESS, BY THE WAY, IS NOT WELL KNOWN FOR ITS CHARITY, OR EVEN MODEST WELCOME TO STUDENT APPRENTICES. AS IT IS A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE BUSINESS, AND MOST DEALERS LIKE TO KEEP THEIR SECRETS, AND THE INDUSTRY ITSELF HAS ITS INHERENT MYSTERIES, IT'S NOT QUITE THE SAME AS BEING AN APPRENTICE IN AUTOMOBILE MECHANICS, OR ACCOUNTING. ANTIQUE DEALERS SHARE SOME COMMON GROUND WITH MAGICIANS, IN THAT TRADE SECRETS ARE INTEGRAL TO LONGTERM SUCCESSES, INCLUDING PROFILE AND PROFIT. IT CAN BE DANGEROUS SHARING INSIDER INFORMATION ABOUT ANTIQUE SOURCES.

I DON'T BLAME DEALERS FOR BEING SECRETIVE, AND SOMEWHAT RESERVED ABOUT TAKING ON STUDENTS OF THE INDUSTRY, AS IT CAN TURN AROUND AND HAUNT THEM, IF TRADE SECRETS ARE USED IN COMPETITION. THIS ISN'T JUST EVIDENT IN THE ANTIQUE BUSINESS. OUR BOYS, ANDREW AND ROBERT, HAVE HAD STUDENT APPRENTICES AT THEIR LOCAL VINTAGE MUSIC SHOP, BUT HAVE HAD TO STOP DOING THIS, AS A FEW WHO HAVE WISHED TO SIGN ON FOR AN IN-HOUSE TERM, HAVE MADE IT CLEAR THEY WOULD LIKE TO OPEN UP A SIMILAR BUSINESS……..LOCALLY. THAT'S WHEN YOU HAVE TO DRAW THE LINE. TRADE SECRETS THEY WOULD BE ENTITLED TO, BY BEING WITHIN EARSHOT OF BUSINESS CONVERSATIONS AND BUYING ACTIVITY, COULD BE USED AGAINST ANDREW AND ROBERT; PARTICULARLY IF THE YOUNG APPRENTICE DECIDED TO OPEN A STORE-FRONT, IN DIRECT COMPETITION, IN A SUCH SMALL MARKET ZONE.

Dave Brown wanted a biographer. He had it in his mind that when he officially retired, from his work as an outdoor education instructor, he would start penning his biography. Then he met me. A writer, old book seller, antique dealer, and hospitable homeowner. So the trade-off was that he would take me on as an apprentice, and I would write his biography. The only thing that didn't work here, was Dave passed away shortly before putting pen to paper. It was written and published in 2000, but I had to do it the hard way. Without the subject's input. The point is, with all this verbiage, that Dave would never have agreed to teach me about the old book trade, if we hadn't agreed to trade skills for information. Even though I didn't agree with a lot of Dave's ideas about collecting, and we were usually at logger-heads about certain protocols of fair acquisition of materials, I needed the knowledge he possessed, and I was prepared to study long and hard to pry it out of that iron-clad mind of his. I knew that with his wealth of experience, and weight of accomplishment and source contacts, he was, very much, a professor of his craft. So if I seem to have spent a long time, in this antique profile, it's because I want to stress, especially to new collectors and dealers, what pain and suffering comes before success and profit; and how critical it is, to ask for assistance when lost in the quagmire of a complicated, confusing industry. Dave was my guiding light. I have to credit him with this, because at the time I met Dave, I was not moving ahead in the industry whatsoever. I had a shop, felt trapped, and wanted out. Here this chubby, big handed, large footed guy from Hamilton, put some excitement back where it belonged, and after about a year of tutoring, I started looking at my business as a channel of opportunity…..not a mainstreet coffin in which to suffocate.

Suzanne and I had purchased contents from a rather historic estate, in the Village of Rosseau, known as Camp Knock About. It was back in the early 1990's, when the family decided to sell the cottage. We acquired many, many interesting antique pieces, art, china, pottery, an old table-top Victrola, many framed turn of the century graphics, silver, and a lot of old books. We arrived at the store, then situated on upper Manitoba Street, and began unloading some of the estate pieces into the store. We were late opening, that day, and we got kind of tied-up with customers before we could empty the car. A friend came in and said, "There's a guy's arse hanging out of your trunk Ted," he said. "What have you got in there anyway?" I went over to the window, and sure enough, I could see someone in the trunk, and a pile of the estate books on the tarmac beside. "I forgot to close the trunk," I yelled back. Suzanne, just coming down the shop steps, had heard what our friend had said. "Ted, I told the man he could look at the books in the trunk…..is that okay?" A little unorthodox but what the hell. Maybe he'll find something he likes, I thought, and save me hauling them down the flight of stairs.

Well that guy hung out of my truck for about an hour. It must have looked hilarious from the street, these fat legs, with big shoes, sort of dangling out the back of the car, with this guy buried in old books. At the time, there were probably five hundred or more jammed into the trunk. Well, when the chap was finally able to set his feet on the ground again, and shuffle down the flight of stairs, he had about twenty books balanced in his arms. "Hello there," he said with a distinct chortle, and a little whistle of someone out of breath. "I found a few interesting books I'd like to talk to you about." First of all, before this happened at my sales desk, Suzanne had done a lot of ground-work with the gentleman, because I heard them talking just outside my shop window. Dave Brown had already charmed my wife, and got a dinner invitation, before he agreed to buy the books he had been allowed to scavenge from my trunk. After some small talk, and a strong handshake, we agreed on a price for the books, and I knew, as I always knew with Dave Brown, he got the deal, I got the lesson. He also got dinner and lodgings before our encounter was over. Geez he was smooth. But that's how Dave and our family got together. Many, many times over the next decade, I'd look up over that counter, and see this big Dave Brown hand coming at me…..as our usual greeting, and he'd stand for an hour or more, talking about his latest encounters, most recent adventures, and where he was headed to carry on the quest for his idea of the holy grail.

Dave's best times, were not really spent with me at all. He always like Suzanne more, because she fed him real well. He loved to drive up to Haliburton, and stay with long-time friend Rick Nash, one of the country's respected birch bark canoe historians / craftsman, where he got to spend the night in what Rick called "the canoe shed." This is where Rick kept his birch bark supplies, and tools, and Dave found the digs so much more inspiring than my archives room, and pull-out couch. Dave liked the aroma of rolled birch bark and wood, and all the history it represented. I always felt he compared Rick's Canoe Shed to our house at Birch Hollow, so I added an old cedar canoe, that I jammed up onto my book shelves, to create a more suitable environs for my outdoor educator friend. He liked that, but still preferred it when Rick and his wife invited him up for a visit. I don't really blame him. I would have slept in that shed myself. Talking about historic canoes with Rick Nash is a treat, let me tell you, and every minute of it, is passionately historic……because there are very few with his immense knowledge of North American birch bark canoes…..who will also let you sleep in his canoe shed……if you're otherwise at loose ends. This was an example of the interesting collection of folks Dave called his friends. I never got to sit in on discussions between Dave and Rick, because Dave passed away before a planned get-together.

Another hugely important bit of networking with Dave as a catalyst, came when I met well known archivist - old paper and document sleuth, Hugh Macmillan, formerly connected with the Ontario Archives, and the gentleman who helped encourage Rick Nash to move to Canada from the United States, to work on canoe restorations in the Haliburton area. Without knowing it at the time, we also had an additional connection, with writer / teacher in Bracebridge, Wayland "Buster" Drew, author of the highly regarded book, "Superior; The Haunted Shore," amongst many other titles. Wayland and I were two of the early directors of the late 1970's establishment of the Bracebridge Historical Society…..he became its president first, and I was elected president almost ten years later. Suzanne and Wayland were colleagues at the Bracebridge High School. Dave Brown, the chap who had been hanging out of my car, that Saturday morning, had inadvertently, through old books, and the hunt for heritage items, had put us all together with Canadian history at the forefront. These where the halcyon days of my early career as both historian and collector, having associations with some of these fine folks……who taught me a lot about writing, the gathering of historical reference material, and frankly, how to buy and sell without losing your shirt.

I just wanted to included one particular example of how collecting and history came together for me, through Dave in particular. It was a whisker past the mid-1990's, and I was looking for ideas for historical features, to research and eventually publish in one or more of the local newspapers I was affiliated. It began quite innocently, when I started reading a series of newspaper columns, in a publication known as "The Weekender," a free, widely distributed Muskoka region publication. The columns were about Canadian artist Tom Thomson, and the mystery of his death. The columns at the time, were written by well known Algonquin area trapper / guide, Ralph Bice. In one column, he referred to another writer's opinion, that Thomson had been murdered, during that Canoe Lake mishap, back in July 1917. Bice strongly disagreed with this scenario, stating that it had been death by "peeing" misadventure. Thomson, with more than a little liquor in his system, stood up in his canoe, while traversing Algonquin's Canoe Lake, toppled over the gunnel, hitting his head on the way into the water. Murder? No chance!

What sparked my focus on the story, was the fact the writer he was referring, was actually Judge William Little, author of the 1970's book, entitled "The Tom Thomson Mystery," which officially, and publicly raised the likelihood Thomson had been murdered by someone at Mowat Lodge. Evidence from the body, and events around Canoe Lake at the time, suggested very much, someone had bound the artist's legs, weighed him down with some heavy object, quite a distance out on the lake, and set his canoe adrift to make it look like a simple matter of misadventure. What made me mad, was the fact that Bice had jumped on this aspect of the Thomson story, only a short time after Judge Little's death……and it just seemed unfair that the author had no means of rebuttal. I knew that Judge Little had returned to Canoe Lake before his death, and it was obvious the mystery was still a long way from being solved at that point. But the death-by-peeing possibility always seemed absurd to Little.

The same afternoon as I read Bice's overview of Thomson's death, I trundled up to the Gravenhurst Salvation Army Thrift Shop, for a wee browse with Suzanne. As I always frequent their book section first, I did, and was rewarded with a signed first edition hardcover (with dustjacket making it even better), of "The Tom Thomson Mystery," by William Little. I talked with Dave Brown, that same night, and he told me that from his many conversations with park rangers, and old timers in the Canoe Lake area, Tom Thomson was indeed murdered, and his body was never moved from the Canoe Lake Cemetery, at Mowat, where it was originally buried without the family's consent. The Thomson family, a short while after the burial, paid to have Tom exhumed from the Algonquin soil, and shipped for re-burial in the family plot at Leith, Ontario. This, according to Judge Little's book, and Dave Brown's enquiry while working in the area, had never happened, and in their opinion, Tom is still comfortably at rest in Algonquin Park…….the place he most enjoyed painting. From this connection, and with help from Dave Brown, who provided me with much source material to broaden the research of Thomson, and his demise, I had a most incredible, long term relationship with the artist's biography, up to an including the present. I won't be re-writing the Thomson Murder series in this blog, but you can find the complete series of original columns I wrote, published on my Muskoka and Algonquin Ghost blog-site, by clicking onto http://hauntedmuskoka.blogspot.com/

To show how this inter-connection between collector, dealer and writer worked out, over many years, I have posted a recent article I wrote for The Great North Arrow, on the new book recently published on the Tom Thomson murder mystery. From the mid 1990's to the present, a couple of coincidences and some networking of book collectors, canoeists familiar with Algonquin, historians and friends, have kept me involved in the seemingly unending story of a Canadian artist's untimely demise, that calm summer day in 1917. I have published features series on the topic in Muskoka Today, The Muskoka Sun, and Curious; The Tourist Guide, since the late 1990's. I'm not done yet either!

Here is the 2011 book review from The Great North Arrow.

ROY MACGREGOR’S CRITICAL APPROACH -

TOM THOMSON AND WINNIE TRAINOR GIVEN FULL SCRUTINY

By Ted Currie

A number of years ago now, Canadian art historian, David Silcox, gave me good advice about the study of Tom Thomson.

The author of numerous, well respected books on Canadian artists, and the famous Group of Seven, reminded me to never become so preoccupied with the artist’s mysterious death, that his contribution to the heritage of this country, via art, should becomes a lesser consideration.

It has been happening since Judge William Little’s book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," hit bookshelves, back in the early 1970's. Assisted by Little’s credible research, assisting with a widely viewed CBC documentary, from the same vintage, a sinister, cold-case scenario was adding murder to the legend, of the life and times of Tom Thomson.

Arguably, over the decades, his alleged murder has gained a momentum of its own. How many admirers now, when looking at his art work, have a loose smidgeon or two of mystery, swirling about in their minds? How did he die? Who would want to kill him? How can one man be buried in two cemetery plots?

. While suspicion had been raised in the early 1930's, by Thomson biographer Blodwen Davies, the CBC and Little had now made a large scale foray into the safe domain of accepted thought. The Coroner’s ruling that Thomson had been the victim of accidental drowning, in Algonquin Park’s Canoe Lake, in July 1917, apparently was full of holes. From the 1970's to the present, the subject of Thomson’s "drowning or murder" has spawned everything from a cottage game, to a plethora of tomes written and re-written, each one to read more exciting and revealing than the other. Thomson’s demise has inadvertently become an income generator for a lot of creative types. Just for the record, I have never earned one cent from writing about the Thomson mystery.

"Tom Thomson; Silence of the Storm," authored by Silcox, and colleague, artist, Harold Town, was one of my most coveted art resources, when I first began writing Thomson-themed columns for the local press, back in the mid 1990's. I own a signed first edition of this large format gem of Canadiana, and I’ve kept the author’s words in mind, whenever tackling a feature series, such as this one for The Arrow, where Thomson factors prominently into the story-line. Fascinated by Thomson’s art panels, David Silcox, without purposely intending to block "mystery" from consideration, certainly influenced this writer to adopt a more insightful, respectful appreciation for his creative endeavors in life. Regardless of how entertaining the story has become, intruding upon the circumstances of his death, for all these years, it is for me today, a secondary consideration to the study of his paintings. When I look at his art now, I do so differently than I did in the early years of research, when I put murder most foul ahead of all sensible proportion. I was determined to solve the case, name the murderer, and find the precise location of his mortal remains.

I have long been a fan of Judge Little’s book, and I have a signed first edition of "The Tom Thomson Mystery," of which I am delighted to own. But my prized acquisition, also a signed first edition, is Roy MacGregor’s newest book, "Northern Light - The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the woman who loved him." I actually was the first to inform David Silcox, then in England, about the release of this latest Thomson study. Always interested in updates about Thomson, he was curious about MacGregor’s approach, especially when I let him know he had employed the services of a forensic artist to do a facial reconstruction, from the skull uncovered by Judge Little, in the 1950's, during an impromtu exhumation of the supposedly empty Canoe Lake gravesite.

Thomson was supposedly exhumed and moved from the Canoe Lake Cemetery, only days after his original burial, and re-buried in a family plot in Leith, Ontario. Rumors around the lake led Little, and mates, to believe Thomson had never been moved from Canoe Lake. There was a lot of evidence supporting this assumption. With a quandry like that, why not dig up a grave? Indeed bones were found, when the band of contemporaries, on this macabre outing, put the spades through the rotten wood of the found coffin, said to have been the same one that had contained Thomson’s remains. Without question, this was destined to be an enduring mystery, as it has had, from the beginning, so very many curious events, strange characters, odd comings and goings, and coincidences on top of one another.

What is so interesting about MacGregor’s book, without question, is the fact he has now become the "keeper" of the truths, hearsay, rumors, expectations, embellishments and falsehoods about the Thomson mystery. He has become, in one alluring, sensibly prepared compendium, a worthy archivist of many theories and related details of Thomson’s final days; his death, burial, re-burial, and all the strange cast of characters who played a role, large or small, in what today is a full fledged, no holds barred mystery. And it’s his excellent portrayal of Thomson’s love-interest, Winnie Trainor, of Huntsville and Canoe Lake, that colors in the black and white of a former bare bones, incomplete history. As much as a forensic artist can put a face to a skull, Thomson researchers, long into the future, will be able to use his book as an information fountain, where nothing is summarily left out, but rather stacked to overflowing, for the benefit of discerning readers, researchers, to formulate new theories and enhance sidebar stories. As I mentioned in my last column, Roy MacGregor has become the go-to author, for anyone truly interested in a thorough examination of the past 94 odd years, of what most Thomson enthusiasts would call, wild speculation.

In Roy MacGregor’s earlier historic novel "Shorelines," the author offered everso subtly, a tease of actuality, a taste of the way it was, when portraying, with considerable inside knowledge, the relationship between artist and love-interest. He clearly established a precedent for a second book on the subject. It wouldn’t be a work of fiction either.

By his own admission "Shorelines" got him into trouble with some of his own kin, because of his family relationship to Winnie Trainor. Some of the information was too revealing. On the other hand, "Northern Light," is trouble worth taking, for what it reveals about Winnie’s conflicted life following her beau’s tragic death. I was amazed by MacGregor’s insights about this most important woman, and her role throughout the entire Thomson biography. Without this knowledge previously, the story was at best, a deep echo of unfinished research. Don’t think for a moment, Winnie Trainor wasn’t a key player in the Thomson mystery. She was. The book will explain why.

I won’t give away the story-line of a book I thoroughly respect. It is gracious to Thomson’s art work, and it reminds me of the advice by David Silcox, to separate the realities of his art from the strange nuances of conspiracy and alleged murder. He has done this, while at the same time, not holding back information about the artist’s less than stellar moments, as painter Jackson Pollock’s biographers, had no choice but to reveal his eccentricities, over indulgences and emotional outbursts.

After reading many speculative tomes on Thomson, it was MacGregor’s book that illuminated the artist in a human-on-human context, that we can relate to with some added poignancy. What has been written about Thomson’s character, has offered little more than a faint sketch, with nary a trace of mortal fibre. MacGregor’s work, as a sort of re-animation of the artist, allows for us to see for ourselves, the potential of an artist as a young man; a man with a mate, in the throes of either romance or the crisis of a relationship, and an unwanted pregnancy. There is the sensation of an actual heartbeat, and it makes this book special to my interests, in understanding the whole story of the Thomson mystery.

"Northern Light," released in the autumn of 2010, was published by Random House, Canada, and is available in most new book stores. If it’s not on the shelf, you can order one. I had talked to Roy late last year, about a book signing date in Huntsville. He said he’d let me know. And I’ll let you know if a date is scheduled this summer season.

Thanks for joining me for this column. More Tom Thomson stories to come