Norman Rockwell painting from Winchendon American Legion sells for $3.6 million

WINCHENDON, Mass. — A 1945 Norman Rockwell painting valued at more than $4 million, sold Friday for $3.6 million dollars at auction.

Live bidding on the artwork started at $3.5 million due to early bidding. The reserve had already been met before live bidding started.

When the calls for more bids were asked for, only a couple of would-be buyers remained and the sale price increased by $100,000 with no other bids and the piece sold just after 2:30 P.M. on Friday for $3.6 million.

With the buyer’s premium, the final price for the buyer will be $4.3 million.

A Winchendon American Legion post at risk of closing was selling the artwork. Friday is the last day Post 193 will own the painting.

For decades, the painting entitled, “Home for Thanksgiving,” was thought was to be a reproduction of the iconic painter’s artwork.

In 1959, the painting was donated to the post by a local priest, Fr. Wilfrid Tisdell, along with $500 to help build a new facility, explained Coral May Grout, whose veteran father Charles E. Grout selected the painting from Tisdell’s collection.

“He told my father he would give it gratefully to the post to keep it for perpetuity or until it was needed as a means to secure the post,” Grout said. “And that’s the point we’re at now.”

Over the past few years, dwindling membership and canceled events due to the COVID-19 pandemic have taken a severe financial toll on the post.

At the same time, the building is in need of repair. Along with a new parking lot, the property also needs a new boiler, flooring, kitchen appliances and more, said Kenneth LaBrack, chairman of the Housing Board. Repairs will cost tens of thousands of dollars.

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“This post has been losing money every month, and you can’t continue to keep losing money,” LaBrack said. “If we’re going to keep this building and keep it open – not only to members and veterans but to the community – we had to do something. And we knew we had the ace in the hole with the Norman Rockwell painting.”

The artwork was commissioned for the November 24, 1945 issue of The Saturday Evening Post and depicts a soldier home from war peeling potatoes with his mother before Thanksgiving dinner.

The artwork hung above the stairs of the foyer of the building for decades, mostly unnoticed, as generations of locals gathered not only for drinks at the bar but also weddings, memorials, graduation ceremonies and other important life celebrations.

“For years and years – about 30 years – people walked by it. There was cigarette smoke in the building…alcoholic beverages, of course, were going through the hall,” Grout said. “Somebody could’ve just lifted up and taken the painting, and it would’ve been gone. Nobody in the post really knew the value of the painting.”

When a man walked into the building one day and offered the bartender $500 to buy the piece, officers realized they likely had something valuable. In 1982, they took the painting to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass. where it was determined to be an original.

The museum kept the painting for safekeeping, paying the insurance on it over the years. The artwork has also been on exhibit in various parts of the world. But recently, the painting headed to Dallas to be sold as the centerpiece of Heritage Auctions’ American Art Signature Auction Friday.

While some opposed the idea of selling the painting, the majority of the Housing Board voted to part ways with it.

“If this building isn’t available to our community, it would be a great loss,” said Senior Vice Commander Mark Desmarais, whose own wedding and his daughter’s were at the hall. “My heart is to keep this place going, whatever it took. And now we know what it’s going to take.”

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“I just hope that the painting will be purchased by someone who appreciates it as much as those of us who are letting it go,” Grout said. “And I hope that sometime in the future, I’ll be able to pay a visit to wherever the painting winds up.”

The plan is to put the proceeds into a trust and use only the interest for the repairs. A committee of seven people will make decisions involving the funds.

“We will use the interest to tackle the big projects that need to happen to save this post, so that the community can have it for many, many years to come,” Grout said.

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