Merry Christmas everyone

and a happy and prosperous New Year .

Florida Highwaymen Art

Finally got around to joining "LinkedIn".

Figured I ought to share it with the three or four of you who actually read this blog. Might get some insight as to why I am the way I am.

"I yam what I yam, and that's all that I yam".

If you're young, you probably never heard of Popeye the sailor man, toot, toot

Starts here.

Summary
My experience and knowledge are reflected in the loyalty of my retail customers. My integrity and ethics are reflected in my repeat business within the trade.My goal has always been to professionally provide a quality product or service at a fair price and to make a fair profit in the process.. This has been true since 1973

Specialties:
There exists no dealer or collector with more experience in researching and trading within Florida's highwaymen art market.

owner at highwaymen-buy-sell-trade.com
Fine Art industry
1995 – Present (15 years)

As a private dealer our works are shown by appointment and displayed at numerous antique and fine art shows throughout the state of Florida.
Sales and marketing is directed to both retail and trade audiences.
We offer fine art appraisal, certificates of authenticity, attribution and appraisal for Florida highwaymen and related art.
Consultation, brokerage, collection counsel and representation for private, corporate and institutional clientele.

owner at leblanc numismatics
Investment Management rare coin industry
1975 – 1995 (20 years)

Established and operated simultaneously two retail coin shop storefronts in downtown Boston located at 36 Province St. and 50 Bromfield St.Professional numismatist specializing in high grade United States gold, silver and copper coins pre-1965.
Wrote a study of Indian cents establishing rarity and market value for CDN (the Grey Sheet) Sept. 1980.
Traveled US attending numismatic conventions and auctions to buy, sell and trade on a full time basis.
Graded coins for both NGC and PCGS in their formative years on a part time basis.
With all my national numismatic contacts still in place, I can currently offer expert consultation on appraisal and liquidation of rare coins for Attorneys handling estates. Having operated a retail storefront in downtown Boston for over a decade, my range of knowledge includes coins, medals, paper money and exonumia of the world from any era. My specialty within US gold coins is focused on the St. Gaudens twenty dollar gold series, 1907 to 1933.

Vice President and Manager at John Dean Coin Co. 31 Bromfield St Boston
Luxury Goods (rare coins) & Jewelry industry
1973 – 1975 (2 years)

Opened and operated a storefront retail and wholesale rare coin shop in the financial district of downtown Boston. Oversaw satellite shops in Watertown, MA and Providence, RI.

Education

Boston University - School of Management
BS, Behavioral Science
1967 – 1971

Cornell University
Hotel Administration
1966 – 1967
Loved the experience of Ithaca but found that HA was the wrong field for me.
Plus it was wicked hard. Wicked hard.
Activities and Societies: Student Agencies, Chi Psi fraternity, Alpha Psi.

Additional Information

Websites:
My Website
My Blog

Groups and Associations:
Life member # 2418 American Numismatic Association.
Founder : Mass Association of Coin Dealers

Personal Information
Phone:
727 809 1691 (Mobile)

Interested In:

consulting offers
expertise requests
business deals

BOB LEBLANC
http://www.highwaymen-buy-sell-trade.com/

Make up your own highwaymen list, Part 2.

As I surf around, seeing what Highwaymen news might be out there.......
........this from http://www.tc.yourhub.com/ a little old, but it's out here for the world to see.

Make up your own list, part 2. ...or.............
Muddy the waters of the market and cause confusion for the sake of self-promotion.

New additions to the list by a few of the self-proclaimed highwaymen, including the first time I've heard of AJ Brown.

Here it is:

"The original paintings are on display at the Official and Legendary Highwaymen Art Galleries in the Arcade Building in Fort Pierce.
Paintings by Florida Highwaymen AJ Brown, Mary Ann Carroll, Isaac Knight, RA McLendon Sr., RA McLendon Jr., Willie Reagan, Jimmy Stovall, Johnny Stovall and Norman Wright will be available at the live auction. Highwaymen paintings are prized by collectors and art aficionados. The works generate both excitement and high prices at auctions and the artists have a loyal following as their popularity continues to rise. Excitement continues to build as the new collection specifically created for the 2009 event, "Opening our Doors to your Loved Ones," is now featured on-line."

Now..........why would anyone not believe the word "OFFICIAL" ?

It's a good, solid, trust inducing word, "official".

I mean, Billy Yeager claims to be the "official highwaymen curator".

Google him for an exercise in mindless rambling rhetoric and blatant self promotion via riding the highwaymen art bandwagon. (In addition to this blatant self promotion and mindless rambling, of course).
He claims to be the ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD who knows a genuine highwayman painting from a copy. Everyone else who deals in these things, everyone else, is screwing the public. Better check with him.

" Jesus of Malibu", no arrogance emerges there, right ? A good healthy ego.

Oh, does he have a highwaymen film for sale ?
And it's only $ 30,000.00 ?

I wonder why it hasn't been sold after all these years of offering it on the internet.

Doesn't this give you a warm fuzzy feeling ?

I imagine that federal employees who collect highwaymen art are in the minority, so it probably won't offend too many of my readers that I don't quite understand how this makes sense.

But then, I don't understand how a lot of Congressional economic decisions make sense.

Where is Robin Hood when we really need him ?

from AOL and PoliticsDaily.com


More Federal Workers Make Six Figures in the Recession
Posted:
12/11/09
Filed Under:Economy, Deficit

The number of federal employees making over $100,000 per year has exploded in the first 18 months of the recession, USA Today reports, sending the total percentage from 14 percent to 19 percent. The highest-paid federal workers are seeing the largest increases: In the same period, the number of civil servants making over $150,000 jumped from 1,868 to 10,100. When the recession began, only one person at the Department of Transportation was making over $170,000. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees do.The skyrocketing federal pay is systematic, reaching every level in every agency. Congress approved across-the-board raises of 3 percent in January 2008 and 3.9 percent in January 2009. President Obama has recommended 2 percent pay raises in January 2010, the smallest since 1975. Most federal employees get "steps" -- pay increases based on length of service -- that can run up to 1.5 percent per year.Several laws have made it easier to raise federal workers' salaries, particularly the National Security Pay Scale, which allows the Defense Department to award merit-based salary increases. And while many agencies prohibit employees from making more than the agency's head, increases in bosses' pay has allowed earnings to rise for everyone below.

So ....... happy Chanukah

So ....... happy Chanukah.

So........ always remember, a Jew disconnected from his roots and ignorant or unappreciative of his heritage is ready prey for the foreign waters that offer to quench his spiritual thirst.

I know these things as an "honorary" Jew since 1973, the honor bestowed upon me by the reigning Jews on the streets of Downtown Boston, in the heart of the financial district where the 7 storefront shops for rare coins, bullion, and most importantly the two high rise Jewelers buildings on Washington St. gleam in the shadow of the State House at the corner of the Boston Common.

My gift was from Myron Berton, Goldman, Goldstone, Leventhal, Kracov, Jack Stone, Sam Stone, Joe and Shirley Lipson, Herb Melnick, and even young Bruce Kutcher, (who is immortalized in my 1975 wedding pictures in a splendid pale green bell bottom jump-suit a la Elvis, complimented by a matching sombrero pimp hat).

Each and every one of them a sharp old school Jewish businessman.

Ah, the lessons I learned in nine years on Bromfield Street buying and selling have allowed me to keep dis bidness, this game of knowledge, running for like thirty more years.

Buy low, sell high, keep your word.

And always appear to be a mensch.

Know what I'm sayin' ?

Tiger's in Florida, right ? And in the news, right?

And I imagine most everyone has been inundated with the story of the Thanksgiving evening car crash, on private property, in Windmere Florida. If you follow sports news, as I do, you can't escape it.

Personally, I'm mostly disgusted by the "enquiring minds want to know" atmosphere that seems to be permeating our society. I don't watch Inside Edition, or TMZ, or any of that other crap that glorifies celebrity gossip and scandal. I'm big on personal privacy. Real big.

Tiger and Elin's personal lives are not my concern or any of my business. I'm sure everyone has their own take on the situation and they are certainly entitled to their opinions.

There has arisen a burning question in my mind, however, and it deeply concerns me. I have seen it raised in the media only once, but I imagine as time goes on we'll see it agin. Or not.

I hereby copy and paste what I just read in "Fanhouse" or some link connected to it.

What if we reverse the situation and Tiger is standing above a bleeding Elin holding a golf club after she's just wrecked her car?

Tiger's in jail, right?

I think it's pretty fascinating how society has a complete double standard when it comes to domestic disputes (of course, there's no proof that there was a dispute of any kind involved here, and Tiger has denied being physically attacked by his wife). The wife attacks the husband and we think it's funny.

The husband attacks the wife and we want him locked up and the key thrown into the Atlantic.

Does that really make sense?

I don't advocate domestic violence of any sort, nor do I advocate marital infidelity.

I do, howevah, advocate equal rights, or something along those lines.

This episode with the Woods family has caused a lot of questions to be raised, but I think this one may be the most important.

News you may have missed

From the Treasure Coast Palm online news........

Both the Backus Gallery and Museum and Kelvin Hair representing "the highwaymen" have applied for public funds from tourism tax coffers.

As I understand it, the available money by law can only go an entity which will attract even more tourism, which of course, should generate even more tourism tax dollars.

So, teachers, firemen and police officers don't get a direct shot at these funds, but theoretically, increasing tourism in the area should generate additional taxes which could be used to help fund improvements to these more necessary county obligations.

Ah, politics and cash flow.

I have no comment other than to say what I know to be true.

"Politics is a tricky business."

Copied and pasted from TC Palm :


ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A $411,000 pot of money accumulated from St. Lucie County’s 5 percent tourist development tax is up for grabs, with a Jan. 15 deadline for applications approaching.
At least three organizations so far have told the county commission they deserve a piece of the tax proceeds to spend on facilities to increase tourism in St. Lucie County: the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, the A.E. Backus Museum and Gallery, and the Florida Highwaymen Artists and History Center.
The money comes from a portion of the tax levied on accommodations rented for six months or less. It was set aside by the St. Lucie County Commission for tourist-related facilities located north of Midway Road.
Most of the rest of the tax goes to pay the county’s share of costs for the New York Mets spring training stadium in St. Lucie West and tourism advertising.
State law requires tourist tax money to be used only on specific types of tourism-related programs or facilities.
The 31-page application and guidelines for a grant from the accumulated tax revenues is available on the county’s website, www.stlucieco.gov/tdc/index.htm. The St. Lucie County Commission will make a decision in March.
The loosely associated group of Florida landscape artists known as The Highwaymen are seeking money for the new Florida Highwaymen Artists and History Center, said Kelvin Hair, a second-generation Highwayman artist and son of the late Florida Artists Hall of Fame artist Alfred Hair. A location hasn’t been determined.
“We started out in Fort Pierce, yet, as of now we do not have a home,” Kelvin Hair told the St. Lucie County Commission in October.
The Highwaymen have been the subject of numerous articles, seven books, two documentaries, and Hair and his mentor Johnny Daniels appeared on the Today show in July. Daniels passed away before he could see the show. Elise Rollins, executive director of Lincoln Park Main Street, said the decline of the citrus industry that created the jobs which supported the community business district left business owners looking for a way to bring new life to the area.
“We feel we have found such an economic engine in the Highwaymen,” she said. “We must utilize our own assets if we are to be a viable community again.”
The A.E. Backus Gallery and Museum, which opened in 1960 with the help of private donations, has never asked for public funds, said Executive Director Kathleen Fredrick.
“You could call us the ultimate boot-strapping organization,” she said.
Plans call for a 15,000 to 17,000 square foot expansion of the current facility on the edge of Veteran’s Memorial Park in Fort Pierce, she told the county commission last month.
The expansion would include the first office space they’ve ever had, Fredrick said, climate control suitable for a museum of fine art which will allow them to become accredited by the American Association of Museums classroom space, room for a permanent exhibit of Highwaymen and Indian River School paintings, and a gallery showing Florida artists.
Outdoors, Fredrick said, plans call for a sculpture garden, benches, a fountain “and a place for people to give their dog a drink. We are always asked by people if we can give them some water for their dog.”
The museum draws thousands of people to the area, she said.

I make no judgments on who deserves the money. I'll leave that up to you, gentle reader.

I will say, however, I do not want dogs to be thirsty.