On the divinity that doth hedge a king -- and all his possessions. A trip to Dorotheum and the Kaiserhaus sale, a place and an event you never knew existed... and will hereafter never miss.

By Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author's program note. I am calm again... but I know, none better, that I shall again be overcome by a kind of fever, a fever that causes me to lose interest in the usual activities of life and focus instead on the lives of certain folks, usually long dead, who yet from the very grave have more allure and glamor about them than all our own babbling leaders. But then these leaders have nary a princely attribute, much less artifact with which to captivate us and willingly enthrall.

Even their autographs, signed and dated on grim official photographs, often have no value whatsoever (beyond the ego massage it gives the signer), for such leaders are quotidian and our interest in them and their artifacts wanes with their power. No one, and certainly not a brilliant royalist like Shakespeare, will ever lose sleep or commit pocketbook to gain a slice of their wedding cake or a lock of hair in a golden locket with a pose at once regal and wistful. Mere prime ministers much less ministers of transport have no such magic.

But even the youngest prince or princess of the most transient royal dynasty does most surely have it... and what they have we want. Hence the twice annual imperial sales in Vienna, the great city of the Habsburgs and their imperium, every stone of which recalls them still, and affectionately. Let me be your host and guide. And for the music to accompany us, it must be "Der Kaiserwalzer" Opus 437 "Emperor Waltz" by Johann Stauss II composed in 1889. Its history is telling...

Emperor Franz Josef, Europe's longest reigning monarch (1848-1916) originally conceived this waltz as a most elegant imperial compliment, in this case to his ally the Emperor William II of Germany, to be delivered in the form of a toast. And so this most Austrian of waltzes was presented in Berlin to the man who, more than anyone, brought down the entire structure of European royalty and lived to rue the day... but not yet. For now, go to any search engine and find this brilliant paean to an emperor, a king of kings, and to an era marked forever by his cypher. Thrill to the sweeping crescendo with which it opens... then be prepared to waltz, just as the emperor himself would be doing if he were in attendance with his gentlemen (as he often was). For his Imperial and Apostolic Majesty loved to dance with a beautiful woman... and forget his troubles, just like you. It was the secret of why the empire loved him, despite the many troubles "serious but not important".

They knew, every single subject, he was one of them, Viennese to his fingertips, and, like the whole imperial structure, in his waning days. This cast a bittersweet pall over Vienna and the House of Habsburg, so much so that when dancing one would often find a tear in one's eye... for such happy, golden days could not last forever, and didn't. Thus one wanted a souvenir of this time... proof that one was present and empathized. They looked to Dorotheum for assistance. Then as now Dorotheum specialized in providing such valued mementoes, grand, opulent, intimate, human, joyful, even tragic, presented to you lot by entrancing lot, lavishly photographed to make them irresistible to --- you.

Dorotheum.

The first thing you need to know about Dorotheum, Vienna's premier auctioneers (founded in 1707), is its name. It is not "the Dorotheum"; it is simply "Dorotheum," and to add the article drives purists (like me) wild; it is the same with RMS Titanic; there is no article in front of the name of the doomed vessel, never was, never will be... and so it is with Dorotheum. Thus we shall start as we mean to get on: with total accuracy and an eye for detail. These traits are of the essence in succeeding at Dorotheum and its highly specialized world. The more you epitomize them, the more successful your sojourn at Dorotheum, and I assure you if you are a connoisseur at any level of expertise, you will want such success here.

Dorotheum online and off.

These days Dorotheum presents its offerings in both the traditional paper catalogs and also online. Personally I find both information sources useful. Paper catalogs, of course, can be taken everywhere; one needs no plug. But online imagery, blowing up the image to better grasp its particulars -- and its particular problems -- is invaluable, not least because you can examine each part of the lot slowly, carefully, thoroughly as you should.

Hardly a day goes by when I fail to consult even a smidgeon of the voluminous resources available at Dorotheum. If I believed in being overwhelmed, even I should admit to a degree of awe in the detail provided. Thus, one must carefully select the areas of one's interest, since concentration and focus are absolutely required. For me this meant the twice a year sales of artifacts from what they call in Vienna Kaiserhaus, Haus Habsburg, the imperial family. I have just emerged from the most recent, dazed, bruised, challenged... and, yes, even victorious. It was despairing, it was exhilarating, it was fun, it was expensive; it was a grand auction of grand artifacts... and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Preparation.

Because I am a serious and a frequent buyer and totally committed collector, I approach the catalogs with serious intent. I am not merely looking; I am looking to buy, to augment my already sizable collection. Moreover, because my Harvard Ph.D. is in History, specifically Modern European History, I expect to know something about what is being presented... but with the necessity to do more refined research and other homework to provide me with the edge I need for maximum success at absolutely the lowest price. I have money, but not to burn. Thus shrewdness must be acquired and keenly used. And I am assiduous in both.

18 Objects.

For the last imperial sale, I marked 18 items which, upon preliminary view, would fit nicely into my Cambridge collection, a place where space (or the lack of it) is a pressing problem. I asked for condition reports on each; talked to their experts twice, asked my own London-based conservators for their professional opinions on the relevant items... and did my own homework, no slacking allowed. In due course, just the day before the event, I at last felt ready.. which also meant being prepared for serendipity, that is being ready for what one cannot predict... taking advantage of the unexpected which is a key factor in one's success.

Every monarchist in Europe present, every monarchist in the world on the telephone.

I do my bidding by phone, by myself not with an agent. I prefer to control my destiny... and keep to my preassigned limits. And since it is my limited resources I'm spending... I usually do, but only "usually". Very quickly I came to understand, by close questioning of the charming lady who transmitted my bids to the auctioneer that there would be no bargains today... and so the imperial china of the Empress Maria Anna slipped away along with paintings, silver, autographs of a half dozen archdukes, and a lovely seascape I thought sure I'd get... all gone. Monarchists and aficionados of the Habsburgs had waited patiently for this day... and were not to be denied. And so a long day went slowly, painfully indeed.... until... that imp serendipity, always present in an auction, never predictable, sometimes for you, sometimes against. Now, for a single instant, my ally.

"Enormous changes at the last minute."

This is Grace Paley's famous line. I love it and frequently see the world through this aperture. It certainly applied now because as the number of lots remaining fast dwindled, the substantial crowd ready for dinner dissipated and started home from the magnificent palace where these auctions are held. Few people remained; fewer lots. And thus when the signed photograph of German Emperor Frederick III came up the auctioneer offered a low bid... half the low estimate. I bit. And, in a minute, he gaveled the item to a close -- for me! A pip of an item (for autographs of this Emperor are rare; he only reigned for 99 days), for a pip of a price, virtually a gift.

"Dr. Lant," my representative said clapping her hands in glee, "You got the only bargain of the auction!" And I believe I did. "I am so happy for you!" Her sincerity and joy for me were palpable... and pure Viennese, pure Dorotheum.

I was so happy that I quickly acquired a fine portrait of English King Edward VII by Heinrich von Angeli (1840-1925). Perhaps I overpaid just a bit, but I wanted it and still have funds to fight another day.

And believe me, at these imperial sales I will. 

 About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, wordpress blog  and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com

The fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman February 26, 2012Black boy, white boy, hoodie, and the Gunshine State of Florida.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author's program note. In the great classic film "Casablanca" (1942), Claude Rains plays a cynical French officer, Captain Renault, whose job, as he sees it, is to stay alive, live well and to get along, go along. Thus, he contributed one of the best lines in movie, maybe even human history when he tells his underlings to arrest the "usual suspects." Since Rains and his sophisticated weariness are nowhere to be seen in the matter of Trayvon Martin... I shall assume the role myself as it is a particular favorite of mine for we are both men of the world who haven't got a minute for what my solidly Midwestern grandma used to call "guff"... and there's been a world of it already in the Trayvon Martin case.

The facts, so far.

One of the most inconvenient aspects of any matter, especially high visibility murders, is the facts. Thus, the first thing sidewalk kibitzers do is to massage those nasty blighters, the better to make their case and fuel the fulminations they do so enjoy. As a trained Harvard historian, I adhere instead to the single-word motto of the world's greatest university -- "veritas" (truth) -- although nothing is more difficult than seeking it, discovering it, and adhering to it whilst all the other commentators have far more frolic and fun indulging themselves in the usual rodomontades, posturings, exclamations, expostulations, deceits, connivances, verbal by-plays and outright lies. Oh, yes, they have far more fun than mere truth tellers ever do, for we must strictly tread the straight and narrow path.

Here is what happened February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida.

Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old African-American male who was unarmed. George Zimmerman is a 28-year-old with Caucasian father and Hispanic mother. At the time of the fatal incident Zimmerman was a community watch coordinator.

Martin was walking to the home of his father's girlfriend in a gated community where he was staying when Zimmerman began following him, while contacting the Sanford Police Department to say he witnessed what he described as suspicious behavior. The police told him to disengage, to let the police handle it. Yet soon afterward there was a confrontation that ended with Zimmerman fatally shooting Martin once in the chest at close range.

The police enter the scene.

When police arrived at the scene, Zimmerman told them he had shot Martin in self-defense because Martin had attacked him. According to police, Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose and had a wound at the back of his head. Responding officers took Zimmerman into custody, transporting him to the Sanford Police Department where he was questioned by investigators. Zimmerman was released without being charged because police said they did not find evidence to contradict his assertion of self-defense and that he acted within his right to self-defense under the Florida "stand your ground" law.

The lead homicide investigator reportedly said he did not believe it was self-defense, and he wanted to charge Zimmerman with manslaughter, but the state attorney's office said there was insufficient evidence for a conviction.

Later, in the face of growing indignation and because he had not followed explicit police instructions to back off as well as inconsistencies in his testimony, Zimmerman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

All these facts are generally agreed. As is the fact that at his death young Trayvon Martin was wearing a black hooded garment commonly called a "hoodie"... and it is this garment, how used, how worn and what it represents that provides the fulcrum of this story... and here there is no general agreement at all. Only charges, countercharges, bitter claims, more bitter recriminations, every one generating far more heat than light.

All about the hoodie, the provocative garment of young urban blacks of the 'hood.

Throughout history, humans have worn hoods to disguise themselves whilst committing every unsavory act mastered by our species. Such hoods were also used to frighten, intimidate, and cow designated populations. In terrorist organizations as diverse as America's white-hooded Ku Klux Klan (founded in 1865) and Russia's black-hooded oprichniks (founded in 1564), the hood was always a tool of menace.

Some folks, including the usual posse of self-appointed community leaders, axes to grind, anxious for another pointless round of envenomed accusations, will try to tell you that this was "racial profiling" pure and simple, a hate crime; that this garment is just an adolescent fashion, like bobby socks or greased hair. However this assertion is disingenuous in the extreme.

The hoodie is the garment of choice of drug dealers, pimps, and criminals of every kind, people undermining Black communities right this minute, while reaching far beyond, to even greater destructiveness. Let's be clear: this garment is their uniform of choice, and is designed to do what such garments have always done: to intimidate, hide, confound, and alarm.

No, this is not the newest fashion by Perry Ellis or Ralph Lauren. It is instead the chosen symbol of those who mean to subvert the law, incite violence, and create mayhem and dismay; those who wear and support this garment condone its history.

This is the garment seen by George Zimmerman and in which young Martin had but minutes to live and in which he died, his life's blood trickling down his lithe body into the rich soil of Florida.

What had gone so terribly wrong? Just this: the still unfinished business of racial dissonance, distrust, disharmony no longer tolerated in law is still in other forms so destructive and discernible today. Thus, this scenario: Martin wore what he wore to be "wicked cool", impress his lady, showing the support and adherence one home boy shows another. He meant no more than that, perhaps, but even that was provocation enough...

George Zimmerman saw that garment very differently, seeing not cloth so rendered but clear evidence of destructive intent, an active threat to home and neighbors.

And so two people who saw this single thing, this hoodie, so very differently played out their fate, their portion of the still unfinished racial business of the Great Republic... and here's the greatest irony. Had Zimmerman worn the hoodie.... and Trayvon Zimmerman's apparel... the one would not be notorious, not marked for life, the other not dead, but still among us.

A plea for the humanity in each of us.

Thus this plea, certain to be heard by the good people of the Great Republic, who have responded carefully, thoughtfully, generously before... and are called, yet again, to do so. We must not stop our work for racial harmony, racial empathy, racial understanding; though it has advanced.... it is not yet finished. For so long as there is racial dissonance anywhere, there is racial harmony nowhere.

Moreover, until this corrosive, divisive matter is truly cleansed from the heart of everyone ... the Great Republic remains unfulfilled, incomplete, riven by mistrust, hobbled, not yet the living ideal we need and must have to complete our destiny and place at the forefront of our troubled world; a world where the unsettled spirits of two young men -- and all like them -- can never rest until this great matter is solved... and neither can we.

About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com.