Harrold Edgar Gillingham
1864 - 1954
Harrold Edgar Gillingham was a serious collector from Philadelphia. He was a Philadelphia insurance broker. Louise Hance Long Gillingham and Edith H. Gillingham were his wife and daughter respectively.
Gillingham collected Americana and scientific instruments.
He encouraged Gertrude Hamilton, who traded under the name of Mercator from a shop in Paris between 1925 and 1935, to expand her business from antique maps to include scientific instruments. He is known to have bought 19 instruments from her. One of the most famous was the sundial of Ahaz made by Georg Hartmann in 1548 (now CHSI inv. 7397).
Gillingham was particularly interested in sundials, sand glasses, and astrolabes. David P. Wheatland purchased his collection of approximately 246 pieces en bloc in 1949, after visiting the elderly Gillingham in Philadelphia with Mrs. Wheatland in June 1949 on the advice of R. Newton Mayall. According to a memorandum in the CHSI files, Gillingham provided "a list with prices he had paid. He travelled a lot (was in the Insurance Business) and bought over the [19]20's these items--mostly in Paris." Wheatland paid $5000.
When Mr. Wheatland catalogued the instruments later that summer in Topsfield, Massachusetts, he found that he had been "short changed. Gillingham had listed instruments several times under different names." Wheatland asked for a refund of part of his money ($765), but Gillingham refused. He therefore decided to make no mention of the objects having belonged to Gillingham, and when possible, listed them simply as coming from the Paris dealers indicated on the Gillingham inventory. Wheatland's initial typescript of a catalogue of his sundials shows the name Gillingham crossed out.
Mr. Wheatland put the Gillingham Collection aside for five to six years in embarrassment over the deal. Later noticing that an astrolabe similar to one in the collection was listed for sale at $2000, he changed his feelings about the collection and brought it out again. His new interest in it also led to his acquiring the Drecker collection.
Gillingham collected Americana and scientific instruments.
He encouraged Gertrude Hamilton, who traded under the name of Mercator from a shop in Paris between 1925 and 1935, to expand her business from antique maps to include scientific instruments. He is known to have bought 19 instruments from her. One of the most famous was the sundial of Ahaz made by Georg Hartmann in 1548 (now CHSI inv. 7397).
Gillingham was particularly interested in sundials, sand glasses, and astrolabes. David P. Wheatland purchased his collection of approximately 246 pieces en bloc in 1949, after visiting the elderly Gillingham in Philadelphia with Mrs. Wheatland in June 1949 on the advice of R. Newton Mayall. According to a memorandum in the CHSI files, Gillingham provided "a list with prices he had paid. He travelled a lot (was in the Insurance Business) and bought over the [19]20's these items--mostly in Paris." Wheatland paid $5000.
When Mr. Wheatland catalogued the instruments later that summer in Topsfield, Massachusetts, he found that he had been "short changed. Gillingham had listed instruments several times under different names." Wheatland asked for a refund of part of his money ($765), but Gillingham refused. He therefore decided to make no mention of the objects having belonged to Gillingham, and when possible, listed them simply as coming from the Paris dealers indicated on the Gillingham inventory. Wheatland's initial typescript of a catalogue of his sundials shows the name Gillingham crossed out.
Mr. Wheatland put the Gillingham Collection aside for five to six years in embarrassment over the deal. Later noticing that an astrolabe similar to one in the collection was listed for sale at $2000, he changed his feelings about the collection and brought it out again. His new interest in it also led to his acquiring the Drecker collection.
Willem F. J. Morzer Bruyns and Anthony Turner, "Gertrude Hamilton, an American Instrument-Dealer in Paris, " <i>Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society</i>, no. 73 (2002): 23-26.
Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America--s.v. Gillingham, Harrold Edgar, http://research.frick.org/directoryweb/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=6963
Gillingham Collection records in David P. Wheatland files at CHSI.