Building the Web, Lego style

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), May 10, 2002

$1.7 million for two guitars

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two guitars belonging to Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia have been sold at auction for about $1.7 million, the president of Guernsey's auction house said. The auction, held Wednesday at Studio 54, was put together by Guernsey's, and featured an assortment of items from the band and from Garcia, who died in 1995. The highlights were "Tiger" and "Wolf," the custom-made guitars that were among the few instruments Garcia used during his career.

Guernsey's President Arlan Ettinger said an anonymous buyer made the highest bid of $850,000 on Tiger. With buyer's commission, the total price came to $957,500. Another anonymous buyer made the winning bid of $700,000 for Wolf, Ettinger said, with buyer's commission bringing the total price to $789,500. The commission is 17.5 percent for the first $100,000, plus 12 percent of the bid amount above $100,000. Other items in the auction included Garcia's paintings, his motorcycle, posters and photographs.

Laser restorers

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Experts hoping to restore some of the Acropolis' ancient glory have decided to use modern laser techniques to clean away pollution from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon Marbles. Using a new technology that combines lasers with microwaves, restorers hope to clean 16 remaining figures that once adorned the Parthenon in time to display the sculptures for the 2004 Olympics. The statuary are a series of sculptures in a frieze that once adorned the upper sections of the Parthenon in Athens. Sixteen segments are in Greece and 17 are at the British Museum in London and are also called the Elgin Marbles.

After two years of practicing on other marbles, the Central Archaeological Council recently gave approval for the method. Experts hope to begin using it as early as next month. The cleaning will take about one-and-a-half months for each of the marbles in Greek hands.

The remaining 17 marbles in Britain have been long sought by Greece. Britain has for decades refused to give them back. Greece hopes to repatriate them in time for the Olympics, where they will be housed as a totality in a special wing of a new Acropolis museum.