A Classic Bayeta First Phase Chief ’s Blanket, Navajo, circa 1840,
also known as the Walentas First Phase.

A Classic Bayeta First Phase Chief ’s Blanket, Navajo, circa 1840, also known as the Walentas First Phase.

The first phase measures 57 inches long by 76 inches wide, as woven.

The first phase is ex- Fred Harvey Company Indian Department, Albuquerque; ex- Tony Berlant, Santa Monica; and ex- Edwin Janss, Jr., Los Angeles.

In 1983, the first phase was purchased from Berlant by Edwin Janss, Jr. (1914- 1989), of Los Angeles. Through the Janss Investment Corporation, Janss and his family developed the original ski resorts in Snowmass, Colorado, and in Sun Valley, Idaho. The Janss Investment Corporation also developed Thousand Oaks in the San Fernando Valley, and Westwood in Los Angeles.

During the 1960s, Janss built a collection of contemporary art that included works by Francis Bacon, Richard Diebenkorn, Sam Francis, David Hockney, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Robert Rauschenberg. Janss also collected Pre-Columbian pottery and pre-historic Mimbres pottery.

On November 28, 1989, the first phase was sold by Sotheby’s, New York, for $522,500, buyer’s premium included. At the time, $522,250 was an auction record for a Navajo blanket. The buyer was David Walentas, of New York. Born in 1938, Walentas is a legendary New York real estate developer. Through Two Trees Management, their real estate corporation, Walentas and his family developed commercial and residential properties in Soho and Tribeca in Manhattan, and in the Dumbo neighborhood in Brooklyn.

In April of 2011, Walentas declined offers of $1,000,000 and $1,100,000 for the first phase.The first phase is inWalentas’s collection in NewYork. The $522,500 price paid by Walentas, in 1989, stood as the auction record for a Navajo blanket for twenty-three years until June 19, 2012, when the Chantland Bayeta First Phase sold for $1,800,000, buyer’s premium included, at John Moran Auctioneers, in Pasadena.

In the Walentas Bayeta First Phase, the red yarns are raveled bayeta piece-dyed with lac.The blue yarns are handspun Churro fleece dyed in the yarn with indigo. The blue yarns exhibit an unusual aquamarine color.The brown yarns and the white yarns are un-dyed handspun Churro fleece.

[Above]

The Walentas Bayeta First Phase, Navajo, circa 1840.

[Below]

The Chantland Bayeta First Phase, Navajo, circa 1840.