DF Archive - Cody Collection

Cody Collection
The most important single holding of the Drachen Foundation is a choice portion of the Samuel F. Cody kite archive. The flight pioneer's collection was auctioned by Sotheby's in London.

American by birth and a renowned turn-of-last-century Wild West showman, Cody became interested in flight and did extensive research on large kites before turning his hand to aviation. He designed and flew the first airplane in Britain in 1908 and died in a plane mishap in 1913. Fifty thousand people attended his funeral.

The archive was held by his direct descendents and consisted of not only extensive kite material but also circus and aviation memorabilia. Cody was an adopted name; he was not related to “Buffalo Bill” Cody.

The Drachen acquisition includes two handwritten journals in which Cody describes his pioneering kite experiments; charming drawings and detailed sketches by the experimenter; hundreds of unique glass plate negatives showing his work in progress; correspondence; business records; press clippings; posters; and messages of condolence upon his death, including a telegram from King George V.

Unlettered yet a brilliant, energetic polymath, Cody is revealed in his diaries as a visionary: “S.F. Cody's Aeroplaine or war kite... my first ascent and my reason for making it” asks toward the end "Is this modern craze for arioul flight a desiase that is catching lately? wall I don't know realy wheather I am afflicted in this way but I assur you my air ship is never out of my deepest thought I even dreem of all sorts of aroplains and arioul flights amongst the clouds in fact if my dreams wer to come tru the moon would be so ashamed of itself it might sece to shine."

By far the largest collection of Cody kite material anywhere, the archive---added to by Drachen after the auction by purchase and gift from the family---required 39 single-spaced pages to catalogue. The holding is now available for free public use. Kite enthusiasts around the world who specialize in replicas, particularly of the ever popular Cody kite, a Boxkite with wings, are particularly heavy users of this material in their quest for authenticity.

Acquisition of the Cody archive in 1997 was a giant step for the foundation, organized only three years before. As Ali Fujino, administrator of Drachen, comments: "We saw this as a once in a lifetime opportunity. The foundation is particularly pleased to be able to keep this valuable Cody trove together as a single entity, and to be able to make it widely available. This fulfills the foundation's mandate to promote the increase and diffusion of knowledge about kites and kiteflying around the world."

Interested in acquiring a copy of the Drachen Foundation's complete listing of the Cody material? Contact Ali Fujino at Drachen in Seattle, 206-282-1386 or via the Internet at ali@drachen.org. Drachen also has available a listing of all other known Cody archives in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Sale at Sotheby's
As the Drachen Foundation's representative at the Cody auction, administrator Ali Fujino found the proceedings nerve-wracking but exhilarating. Since it was unclear at the start what the level of interest would be, she had prepared an elaborate plan for spending her given amount of funds. If the bidding went high, she'd have to settle for fewer, carefully selected items. If low, she could obviously buy many more items. Her major targets were written and photographic material, particularly Cody's journals and historic glass plate negatives.

Since the kite portion of the Cody family holding did not come on offer until about the second hour of the sale, Fujino had lots of time to study the bidding room: a suave, posh-voiced auctioneer on his podium announcing he intended to sell a breath-taking one hundred lots per hour, a telephone bank with staff to relay bids, bid clerks and spotters, porters to show examples from each sales lot as it came on offer. Behind the auctioneer was an electronic board registering the lot number and current bid in English pounds. Below that prices registered almost instantaneously in dollars, yen, and other major currencies. While studiously low key, the proceedings seethed with tension.

As the kite archive came up for sale, Fujino, sitting in the center of the room, showed an unusual strategy. She waited until the bidding was almost stalled and a sale agreed before raising her paddle (soon just a finger) to enter the fray. "New face," said the auctioneer, a bit annoyed in a well-bred way the first couple of times she did this; then he started looking for her. Spotting was not easy for him because of television lights glaring in his face. Adding to the confusion was a steady stream of bids by telephone. (These were from German museums, it was later surmised, and they arrived for only the choicest items, often the very ones Drachen wanted too).

Being Japanese-American, Fujino was probably assumed by the standing room only crowd to be straight off the plane from Tokyo, with a suitcase of yen in tow. It was an arrow in her quiver since the American dollar, which she was actually wielding, overawes absolutely no one in Europe these days.

After brisk bidding, Fujino won every one of the first several lots she bid on. It must have seemed then to competitors that when she entered the fray, there would be no doubt who would win. This clear dominance almost certainly had a significant dampening effect on the competition, permitting Fujino to win at good prices.

The auctioneer's subtle terminology made the same psychological point about Fujino's authority. At first he referred to her after a win as "the girl on the aisle." This was soon upgraded to "the young lady on the aisle," then to "the woman on the aisle." Finally it became simply, fatalistically, "the aisle."

Afterward, Andrew Nahun, aeronautics curator of the London Science Museum, confirmed Fujino's domination, saying he had come with £25,000 ($40,000) to spend but laid out only a fraction of that. "What was the use bidding against her?" he said.

In total, Fujino captured close to two dozen auction lots. She did fail on one bidding foray, however, when the auctioneer, in a hurry now and fatigued, failed to see her raised finger and closed it out early. (They made it up to her later by giving Drachen several thousand pounds worth of glass plate negative contact prints.)

So what did she win on behalf of Drachen? Hundreds of historic glass plate negatives documenting Cody's kite experiments, some with images known to every kiteflier; handwritten diaries in Cody's errant spelling but with fascinating accounts and brilliant aeronautical ideas; exquisitely drawn kite plans beautiful enough to frame. And masses and masses of other material--business records, magazine articles, posters, photographs, and correspondence.

The full extent will be unknown until the trove arrives in Seattle and is catalogued. Wonders may well be included, since the auction was perforce rather hastily scheduled by Sotheby's and material assembled in rather haphazard groupings. Preview days had offered a chance for the potential buyer to view items but the sheer quantity of material was off-putting. Much of it, moreover, was so delicate as to deter detailed inspection.

Afterward, at a restaurant nearby, two groups of Cody family members that were said to be at odds chose separate tables. Fujino received congratulations there from many for her coup and was approached by several people seeking access to the new Drachen archive. Fujino herself expressed pleasure to well-wishers at being able to put the young educational organization on the global map so soon after its founding.

Back in Seattle, phone calls from dealers and fanciers alerted her to a network of aerospace professionals worldwide wanting to know more about the Cody material and about the Drachen Foundation itself. Some had worthwhile things on offer, others had information and contacts very useful to Drachen.

"I've lived a pretty exciting life," concludes Fujino, recalling an art collecting trip to Papua, New Guinea, a vagabond trip around the world, and Peace Corps service in Honduras as out-of-the-ordinary times in her life. "But the Cody auction, with all the advance planning, the excitement of the sale, and the wonderful result for Drachen is right in there as an unforgettable experience for me. Now the thing is, what do I do next month for a thrill?"