First batch of Boy Scout art raises over $3.7 million for abuse victims

DALLAS, TEXAS — 

The archetypal batch of artwork from the Boy Scouts of America's postulation raised implicit $3.7 cardinal astatine auction Friday to assistance wage the compensation owed to those who were sexually abused portion successful scouting.

The 25 works that sold are among implicit 300 from the Boy Scouts that Heritage Auctions successful Dallas volition beryllium offering implicit the adjacent fewer years. With the modular buyer's premium added to the last hammer price, the 25 works sold for implicit $4.6 million.

Hoping to past a barrage of intersexual maltreatment claims, the Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy successful 2020. The $2.4 cardinal bankruptcy program allowed the enactment to proceed operating portion it compensated survivors. The program went into effect past year.

In summation to the art, different contributions to the survivors' colony spot are coming from sources that see insurers and the merchantability of Boy Scout properties.

Many of the works being sold are arsenic interwoven into American beingness arsenic the 114-year-old enactment itself, having been featured connected mag covers, calendars and adjacent utilized to merchantability warfare bonds. Friday's auction included 5 of the astir 60 works by Norman Rockwell that are portion of the collection.

Rockwell's coating “To Keep Myself Physically Strong” shows a Cub Scout lasting connected a seat to measurement the thorax of his older brother, a Boy Scout who has taped his fittingness grounds to his chamber wall. It sold for implicit $1.1 million, including the buyer's premium.

J.C. Leyendecker’s coating “Weapons for Liberty,” which depicts a Boy Scout clutching a sword successful beforehand of a flag-draped, shield-wielding depiction of Lady Liberty, sold for $312,500, including the buyer’s premium. It was featured connected the screen of The Saturday Evening Post successful 1918 and was adapted arsenic a poster to merchantability World War I bonds.

Barbara Houser, a retired bankruptcy justice overseeing the survivors’ colony trust, has said implicit 82,000 radical filed maltreatment claims during the bankruptcy case, and of those, implicit 64,000 person filled retired a elaborate questionnaire to asseverate their claims.

Houser said successful a quality merchandise Friday that she was grateful to those who participated successful the auction, noting that the proceeds “play an integral portion successful acknowledging decades of soundless pain” that survivors suffered.

The Boy Scouts announced this twelvemonth that it is rebranding to Scouting America, a alteration intended to awesome the organization’s committedness to inclusivity. The radical present welcomes girls, arsenic good arsenic cheery younker and leaders.