Barry Haug (1934-2006), American, Turned Burl Laurel Wood Treasure Box with Turquoise Inlay and Gecko Decoration on Lid. Signed on base.

Size: 9 X 9 X 4 1/2 in.

#5397 .

Barry Haug was born in Southern California in 1934, and served in the 101st Airborne with the US Army from 1953 to 55. He then went to work as a farmer and ranch hand before getting an AA degree to teach special education in Lodi, California. After retiring in the mid 80s, he became a woodturning artist at Fort Bragg, traveling throughout Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona for inspiration. In his last years he was a member of the American Legion Riders in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, where he passed away in 2006.

Woodturning is the craft of using a wood lathe with hand-held tools or machinery to cut a shape that is symmetrical around the axis of rotation. In pre-industrial England the skills needed, similar to operating a potter’s wheel, were sufficiently difficult to be known as “the mysteries of the turners’ guild.” The archaeological record of woodturning is limited to illustrations because wood is a fiber prone to rot, but Ancient Egyptian monuments illustrate a strap used by a helper to rotate a lathe while another worker cut the wood. The Chinese, Persians, Ancient Romans and Arabs all had variations of the bow lathe, which continues to be used up to the present day. Between 500 and 1500 A.D. turned wooden vessels were the most commonly used bowls and cups for most of the population of Europe.