Long Island historians/Robert David Lion Gardiner

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Items from Robert David Lion Gardiner collection for sale at Christie's

BY KATIE THOMAS
STAFF WRITER

January 20, 2005

For years, Long Island historians have eyed the vast collection of Robert David Lion Gardiner, an avid history buff from one of Long Island's most prominent families.

Now, in a Christie's auction that begins Thursday in Manhattan, those historians will finally get their chance to own a piece of the trove of Gardiner, who died in August.

Gardiner's heirs have placed on the block close to 30 of his belongings, ranging from family portraits to medicine bottles that date to the Revolutionary War. The items are expected to fetch millions.

Long Island historians see the sale -- and three others that will follow over the next few months -- as a unique opportunity.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing," said Nancy Donohue, president of the Sagtikos Manor Historical Society, which plans to bid on a 19th-century watercolor that once hung in Sagtikos Manor. She's also interested in a portrait of David Thompson, one of the manor's former inhabitants. "Once those things end up in the hands of a private collector, we might never have the opportunity to get them back," she said.