Seller Story: Dr. Henry Heimlich, Cincinnati, OH
Decades before he would introduce the world to the Heimlich Maneuver, the lifesaving technique responsible for saving countless lives, Dr. Henry Heimlich arrived at Camp Four in Inner Mongolia, China on June 4th, 1945, in the midst of World War II. A doctor in the U.S. Navy, he had volunteered to be part of a clandestine mission that was part of SACO, a private treaty between the United States and forces in China resistant to the Japanese occupation. He spent the next several months in the camp, tending to patients and training soldiers in basic medical practice. The mission was a tenuous and dangerous one, in close proximity to the Japanese occupation and adverse Chinese forces. Dr. Heimlich oversaw the treatment of numerous soldiers, villagers and outsiders at the camp, which is likely when he received many of these items from patients and dignitaries.
The late Dr. Heimlich’s autobiography, Heimlich’s Maneuvers, provides a riveting account of his work in Inner Mongolia. Camp Four was one of the more remote stations where the Americans were operating, and Dr. Heimlich was at a distinct medical disadvantage: “I saw illnesses that were far more advanced than they ever would have progressed and an array of ailments that had been virtually eliminated back home,” he recalls.
Many of the remarkable works in this sale were gifted during or acquired by Dr. Heimlich during this appointment and station near the Gobi Desert. The collection of SIno-Tibetan bronzes is emblematic of that regional iconography, as is the dragon robe. “I remember when I was little, carefully lifting the glass off of our coffee table that held these small treasures, and imagining the people who had given these things to my father as gifts,” says his daughter, Janet. “My understanding is that they were tokens of appreciation given by people whom he had medically treated. When I think about my father The Humanitarian, I don’t only think about his medical innovations, I also think about how he felt personally connected to so many individuals who owed their lives to his work.”
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Waterford Crystal Millennium Collection Champagne Bucket Featuring Five Wishes
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Louis Vuitton Mini Sac HL Handbag in Monogram Canvas
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
14K 1.70 CT Sapphire and Diamond Navette Ring
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Douglas “Bumo” Johnpeer Landscape Oil Painting, 2024
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Husqvarna YTH 22V46 Riding Mower
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Stained Glass Window Panel With Floral Motif
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Faino Oil Painting of Still Life with Flowers
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
18K 0.01 CTW Diamond Hand-Pained Portrait Converter Brooch
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Offset Lithograph After Claude Monet "Le Bassin des Nympheas"
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Impasto Style Landscape Offset Lithograph, 21st Century
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Pair of Faux Leather, Brass-Tacked and Ebonized Wood Club Chairs
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Oil Painting of a Forest Stream, Circa 1900
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Fulper Pottery Earthenware Amphora Vessel With Drip Glaze, Early 20th C.
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Coach Mini Crosby Crossbody Carryall In Silver/Blue Black Badlands Flora
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
W. LeNoury Maritime Oil Painting of Ship at Sea
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Hollywood Regency Style Brass and Blue Velveteen Upholstered Stools
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Southwestern Desert Landscape Oil Painting, 1987
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Derek Jeter Signed Rawlings Official Major League Baseball with Display
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Charriol Colvmbvs Diamond Wristwatch
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
6'11 x 11'1 Hand-Knotted Persian Kashan Area Rug
“He had an ability to relate to patients in a truly compassionate way,” says Janet. “A few times, I had the privilege to see Dad interact with patients and I was always struck by how warm he was with them. For example, Dad made unwavering eye contact. Sometimes, he’d pull over a chair over and sit down next to their bed so he didn’t have to look down on them. In the 1950’s, Dad was the first American to perform a complicated surgery that involved replacing the esophagus using the lining of the stomach. It allowed patients who hadn’t eaten solid foods for years to be able to swallow again. Dad was also the first physician to perform this operation on an infant, a baby named Guy Carpico. Dad was so concerned about the baby’s survival, he sometimes slept in the tiny patient’s hospital room. Before Guy’s first birthday, he could eat normally. Several years later, he wrote the forward to Dad’s memoir, Heimlich’s Maneuvers.”