A visit with Richard Gannon: The detached collector
From collectibles from the 1500s to walrus penises, he has it all
BY CARL-JOHN X _VERAJA Florida Weekly Correspondent

PHOTO CARL-JOHN X VERAJA Richard Gannon tells me about a camera from 1838.

In the process of doing an article on a local artist, I went to Gannon's Antiques to see some of her work. While there, I asked Richard Gannon if he knew of anyone with a particularly odd collection that would be interested in being part of a story.

"Well," Gannon said, "my dad has a collection of whale penis bones. Some of them are this long."

He held his hands apart as far as he could.

Thoroughly impressed with the oddity of this choice of collectibles, I went to see his father of the same name shortly thereafter.

Richard and Ursula Gannon have been dealing antiques locally for ten years and, not surprisingly, have acquired many unusual items. Richard Gannon agreed to give me a tour of his private collection.

Inside, over the noise of two barking dogs, Gannon said, "We're very eclectic. I'll give you a rundown."

A rundown? I thought. I hope he's not going to beat around the bush.

Gannon gave me a drink to steel myself and then we walked into a central area where I noticed an odd statue. I asked what it was.

PHOTO CARL-JOHN X VERAJA Richard Gannon shows off a shelf of his collection. The longish, ivory colored piece formerly was the pride of a walrus.

"I don't know, somebody brought it by and it's neat," Gannon said. "It's actually made of pottery. It's a bear. It came out of a guy's house in Bonita. He was a Japanese artist he died and left it with somebody."

All of which is very interesting, I thought. But what about the…

Gannon proceeded to show me a very historically significant table.

"This table is from the centennial," Gannon said. "1876…1776 to 1876. The Philadelphia exposition…"

"Is that supposed to be George?" I asked of a profile on the table.

"Um-hmm," he said. "And different houses, waterworks, machinery."

I was surrounded by strange items I didn't recognize which meant I was in my comfort zone. Gannon continued to describe the terra incognita to me.

"It's a turtleshell and bronze," Gannon said of one antique. "French. If you know what a chickenbone looks like that's the top of the leg of a mammoth that was found at Miner's Plaza."

PHOTO CARL-JOHN X VERAJA Gannon shows off his captain's sea liquor box, which sat along with an axe that belonged to Teddy Roosevelt.

Apparently, Florida was a pathway to South America at one time, I was informed, and wooly mammoths crossed Lee County headed for Bolivia.

"Florida's still a pathway from South America for many," I noted.

Moving right along, Gannon pointed out a wooden box. "This is a captain's sea chest for his personal collection of bottles," he said.

After I snapped a picture, Gannon took me to another stocked with old books. Holding one open before me, he said, "This is from the 1500s. It's after Gutenberg's…this book is worth about $75. It's amazing."

"That's it?" I asked.

"I have books like 'The History of Civilization'," Gannon said. "As Americans value what we can read."

"And that's Napoleon, I assume," I said, pointing at a little portrait.

PHOTO CARL-JOHN X VERAJA Books, some 500 years old, make up part of the Gannon's personal collection.

He nodded.

"I recently heard he wasn't actually shorter than the average person," I said. "He was actually a few inches taller than the average person at the time. That was a myth."

"Well, yes," Gannon said. "But he was still short."

"By our standards," I said, thinking and what about the whale penis bones?

"Well, by the Civil War, which is 100 years later," he said, "the average soldier was 125 pounds. To give you an idea of how man has progressed, he was a couple of inches taller, sure, but he was only 5-foot-3."

Next on the plate was a camera. It was immense, beautiful and made mostly of wood. I wept inside, thinking of my Nikon that had been stolen by a pair of homeless men last summer.

"That's a portrait camera," Gannon said. "It used a big plate. That's from the Harmon collection. You know Harmon studios? They were in town for 50 years."

I coveted it.

We exchanged some facts about each other. We were both from New York. He had been raised in Long Island. Met his wife in New York City where she had worked at the Manhattan Antique Gallery. Then, they had moved to Lee County and owned auto parts stores until they became unprofitable. At that time, Gannon went into antique dealing.

"Yes, yes. I had an uncle in Malverne," I said. "Hey, Rich, your son said you had some whale penis bones?"

Oh, that.

He took me to another set of shelves and picked up a long, ivory-colored object.

"Well, vertebrae," Gannon said. "This is a walrus penis."

"Hold on, let me take a picture," I said.

"I don't want to be in a picture holding it," Gannon objected.

"You can set it down if you want," I said. "I heard it was a whale penis bone."

"Basically, all of them have one," Gannon said. "That's just cartilage that hardened."

He went on to show me a necklace with slim, finger-length bones woven into it.

"That's raccoon penises," he said.

"And someone used to wear this?"

"Eskimos," Gannon said. "Then, along the same line, this is a scrotum pouch."

He showed me a big, hairy purse.

I was somewhat disappointed.

"I work six days a week," Gannon said. "I'm only here because you wanted to see this. We're always looking for plugs. And you needed something to write about."

"True that," I said.

"If you wanted to go to the store, I could show you some other strange things," Gannon said.

Learn more

>>What: Gannon's Antiques and Art Center
>>Where: 16521 S Tamiami Tr., Fort Myers
>>Phone: (239) 489-2127