A 94-year-old Bradenton artist sold more than 2,000 of his pieces to an antiques dealer in just one day.
Bob Lee has two great loves in this world. The first is his wife of 70 years, Eleanor. They met on a blind date in 1945, right after World War II ended, when Bob was a pilot in the Navy.
His second love is carving wooden birds.
“That’s a full-size cardinal," he said, holding a wooden cardinal in his hand. "That’s how big they are."
Lee said he can carve a bird, maybe two in a day. Over the years, he's carved and painted more than 5,000 birds. He's carved big ones and little ones, and they are all so detailed that you can almost hear them chirping.
“I really enjoy birds, making them," he said.
Two years ago, Lee had to stop carving due to medical problems. Even so, rooms in his home were filled with his hand-carved birds.
“I sold them for a long time, but just one or two," he said. "They didn’t come in and say, 'I will take all of them.' "
That is, until this week when local antiques dealer Alan Amero purchased more than 2,000 of Lee's carvings.
“These duck decoys here are nice," Amero said as he admired some of Lee's art. "These have the necks going back, that’s a nice form, a rare form."
Amero owns Antiques Gallery of Sarasota. He says when he heard about Bob’s art, he had to buy all of them. He paid more than $25,000 for the collection.
“Its just very unusual to see such a large collection of such quality,” Amero said.
Eleanor Lee said it's hard to part with the collection.
“He says, 'Oh, you are selling all my birds, I’m going to have to start making birds again,' " she said. "I said, 'Oh, no.' ”
Lee’s birds will be for sale at Antiques Gallery of Sarasota. They will range from $10 to over $300. You will know his work because he carved his name and the year on all of his pieces.