TATUM, Arthur “Art”, Jr. (1909-1956).

A group of smoking accessories, personally owned and used by pianist Art Tatum, 1940s, comprising: a tortoiseshell Bakelite cigarette holder with brass trim, the original case in imitation shagreen; a brass pocket ashtray by Steiner of New York, with presentation engraving on the lid ‘To Art from Key & Hienie’; and a black enamel and silver-plated Ronson Vanguard cigarette lighter, c.1948. Provenance: From the Estate of Art Tatum, sold at Guernsey’s, 26 July 2018, lots 507 (part), 512 (part), and 516.

[With:] a part-printed document signed by Art Tatum, a ‘Chattel Mortgage’ or loan agreement from the L.W. Obee Company of Toledo, Ohio, for the purchase of a Plymouth coach, undated but probably late 1920s, with typewritten address details ‘1123 City Park Ave.’, signed in full in black ink at lower right ‘Arthur Tatum’, one page, 276 x 216 mm.

Though visually impaired from birth, with only partial use of his right eye, Tatum learned to read and write standard script as well as Braille, and reportedly even liked to drive. Biographer James Lester recounts: ‘In these early Toledo days it was usually a friend or relative, such as his cousin Chauncey Long, who drove his Model A. “And we went one night down to a place called Dorothy’s, just hanging out, drinking and playing. All of a sudden Art disappeared… he had gotten in the Ford and driven it right into a tree – it was steaming!”’ The Plymouth was perhaps a replacement for the smashed Model A.