Dallas News

Remember Dr. Michael Duty the soft-voiced and scholarly head of the Dallas Historical Society? He invited us into a back office and graciously showed us a collection of small Frank Reaugh paintings owned by the Hall of State in Fair Park. Soon after he spoke to our regional Arlis meeting as a panelist on collecting Texas art, he took a new job as the Texas art expert for Heritage Galleries in Dallas. In February he spoke at a well-attended lecture on his subject in Heritage Galleries’ new and supplemental space on Slocum Street. Even after power point failure he went on without illustrations.

In the last few years the Heritage Galleries have changed from a small, rare coin sales house to a powerful auction house handling art, particularly Texas art, sports memorabilia, fine antiques and collectibles. They print beautiful color catalogs picturing each item they offer along with well-researched information and provenance about the artists, coins, silver, and antiques they offer.

Each gallery section has its own expert. As well as Dr. Duty, another familiar name at Heritage is Dr. Edmund Pillsbury, former head of the Kimball Museum and later partner in the Pillsbury Peters Gallery. (After Dr. Pillsbury left to become head of Fine and Decorative Arts at Heritage Galleries, the name reverted to Gerald Peters Gallery.)

The Dallas Historical Society made headlines last fall in Dallas when several irreplaceable items from its collection came up missing after being on display at an awards ceremony at the Hilton Anatole. Artifacts not making it back to the Hall of State were Santa Anna’s dress spurs, a Bible from an early Dallas family, a Mexican medal of honor from 1836, the five-star collar insignia worn by Texan, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, at the Japanese surrender ceremony of World War II, along with seventeen other items.

As director of the Society, Michael Duty went on television to ask that the items be returned. He pointed out that their sale was almost impossible and a new owner could never put them on public display. Perhaps someone from the Fox television show, Prison Break, then being filmed in the Hall of State might have picked them up accidentally.

It was assumed that the items had made it back to the Hall of State in the box employees packed after the hotel event. Actually the box had been left on the hotel parking lot and put in the hotel lost- and-found by hotel employees. Three weeks later an employee found them in the lost-and-found.

While the Dallas Historical Society rejoiced, Fox Television demanded an apology for being implicated in a theft. The Dallas policeman in charge of the case said Fox needed to “get a life.” But Michael Duty did issue an apology, saying “We deeply regret any implication that the missing items were the result of actions of the film crew.”

An historical note: The only theft suffered by the Dallas Historical Society happened when a shirt belonging to Elvis Presley was taken from a display case during the 2005 State Fair of Texas. The thief, suffering from a stricken conscience, returned it the next day.