Tom,

I do not know the exact conversation George had with the 'tute but I do know that he desired to keep it at RPI. $60K was a steal and the 'tute really messed that up. Since George has died the values of his sculptures would be considerable higher. In '90 I would have estimated the sculpture to be ~250,000 and about $500,000 today or higher. I fabricated one over the summer of '91 that was called 4 squares vertical eccentric that sold to a Japanese buyer for $250,000. That sculpture stood only 12' high. I guess I need to break out the welder again and build one for the school!!! Just kidding.

George always talked fondly of the school to me. He hired Roland Hummel who also taught at RPI to be his PE. Roland would size the bearings and shafts for various wind loads, spec out the proper base requirements to mount the sculptures too and many other calculations. I used to, after work, go through the files and check out the calculations. That Job was a tremendous asset to me as a prdouct development engineer with Michelin. I was truly blessed when George hired me. He knew that my goal in life at that time was to graduate from RPI and he helped make it happen. George was always pro RPI around me and expected me to keep him up to date with my grades and what I was taking for classes. He was of course a highly intelligent man and was to me a unique mixture of engineer and artist.

As to his death he was 93! He lived an incredibally productive life. I was never told the exact cause of death. I know in his last yrs he went to live with his son Philip in St. Paul. I know that as he got to where he couldn't weld he started painting again. He documented everything he ever did since a child. I used to read about his experiences as a child. He seemed to know that one day he would be famous at some level.

As to drawings for the Chrinitoid they should be on file at the studio in East Chatham. They contain multiple views and details and are fairly simple to understand. There is a lot on machine shop work that is required to produce the workings of a Rickey sculpture.

Hope that helped!
Scott



----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Payne
To: 'Scott Hunt'
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 7:14 PM
Subject: RE: Two Rectangles, Vertical Gyratory Up


Scott,

It's great to hear from you. I've gotten a lot of email as a result of the article, but none from someone who could be as "valuable" to the search as you. I never thought I would have the pleasure of corresponding with someone who actually knew Rickey. I have tons of questions, but here are some starters:

- People talk about bringing the Chrinitoid back to campus. My goal in finding the sculpture was to someday raise enough money to buy it back. Chances are not good that UBS would be willing to sell it, but do you have any idea what such a piece would get on the open market?

- Do you know anything about the removal? Rumor was that George wanted the 'tute to pay $60k to retain the loaner, but they claimed poverty. Is there any truth to this? From your email, it sounded like George remained fond of the school. Was this the case?

- I got an email from one of the professors who knew George (Heinrich Medicus) who doubts that he died of Alzheimer's. Do you know anything about this? (I reported Alzheimer's based on a website I read. I am curious as my father-in-law is suffering from ALZ and it creates an odd connection)

- Do any kind of schematics exist for the Chrinitoid? It would certainly make an RPI engineer's heart warm to see them.

That's it for now.

Thanks for writing

Tom

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