Dozens of objects belonging to former President José Batlle y Ordóñez will be auctioned to the public next Friday 14 and Saturday 15 October. Sebastián Zorrilla de San Martín, director of Zorrilla Subastas -which will be in charge of the event-, explained that in the catalog there are “very important things” of the two-time president. They are items “very particular to him, very personal”he emphasized.
The collection
The collection is made up of 50 lots, but the objects themselves are more, since —for example— a lot that will be auctioned consists of 13 bronze and silver medals commemorating various historical events, which Batlle had in his possession. This collection came into the hands of the auction house by the family of the widow of Batlle y Ordóñez’s grandson, explained Guillermo González, in charge of cataloging the pieces.
Some of the most outstanding objects are a swiss 18 karat gold pocket watchhis civic credential, his identity card and a gold reliquary with the inscription “Capelli di Garibaldi”, which has a lock of hair belonging to Giuseppe Garibaldi inside.
There are also several documents of interest: the Constitution of 1830, some documents from the time of the viceroyalty, and manuscripts of figures such as Lucas Obes, Fructuoso Rivera or Simón Bolívar.
In this way, the historical value of this collection is “fundamental”, González considered. “He must be the most important politician of the 20th century, one of the most important in the history of Uruguay and they are pieces directly linked to the history of Uruguay,” he reaffirmed.
potential buyers
Zorrilla indicated that is in “permanent contact” with former president Julio María Sanguinetti, but not knowing if he would be interested in buying some of the items. However, “surely the Colorado Party and [sus] relatives are going to want to buy several pieces”, he limited and added that they already made reservations for some pieces. “From Batlle’s documentation there are already two or three (interested)”.
When asked about it, he pointed out that no institution or organization has shown interest in the auction yet. “For now no museum, but hey, it will surely arouse interest. We opened the exhibition a few days ago and the catalog is being distributed these days, so we still don’t have a good thermometer”, she pointed out.
However, he emphasized that there are pieces “that should go to the National Historical Museum” or some to the Presidency. “Surely Heritage [del Ministerio de Educación y Cultura] going to buy pieces for the State. There are things that he cannot lose, because he knows that if he loses that he will never see her again.”, he stressed.
Likewise, offers also come from outside the country.
“This type of auction draws a lot of attention from collectors,” said Zorrilla. In this sense, to the “many” that there are in Uruguay, many others are added in Argentina. So there is already about eight or 10 confirmed clients who come from the neighboring shore, while from Brazil there are four insuredAs minimum.
“They are strong buyers,” qualified the director of the auction house. Also, there are more people from abroad interested in specific products, such as the gold watch of the former president. They have had “many queries” about that article; For someone who collects watches, “having a president’s watch is important,” he said.
Zorrilla Auctions uses two live bidding platforms, in order to broadcast the auction live to everyone.
