The
Forbes Galleries
60 Fifth Avenue (at 12th
Street)
Manhattan
(212) 206-5548
The
ground floor of the neoclassical Forbes
building houses a small but enchanting
museum. The exhibits at the Forbes
Magazine Galleries are made possible by
years of collecting by the Forbes family.
Clearly, this is not a family that spent
spare hours clipping coupons. Instead,
they sought out many rare and unique
items, which they have now put on
display.
The highlight of the museum
used to be the collection of twelve
Imperial Easter Eggs and other items
created by the famed House of Faberge,
jewelers to Russian royalty and
aristocracy. Sadly, for NYC
museum-lovers, this collection was sold
and is no longer on display at the
museum. Instead, the museum's main space
houses a series of special exhibitions.
For information on what is current on
view, please visit the Forbes Galleries web site.
Toys, Toys, Toys!
Other rooms in the museum
are devoted to the 500+ toy boats in the
collection, a number of early edition
Monopoly sets, as well as an assemblage
of thousands of toy soldiers of different
styles and eras, all standing neatly at
attention or engaged in battle. We were
impressed by the attention to detail:
music was even piped in to provide the
appropriate atmosphere (sea chants for
the boats; military marches for the
soldiers).
But Wait... There's
More!
The museum also has a
section devoted to memorabilia, with an
emphasis on U.S. Presidents. Photographs,
letters and other documents drawn from
the Forbes family's extensive collection
are displayed here. Past exhibits have
included artifacts related to President
Lincoln's assassination, including the
opera glasses he was holding when he was
shot, his autopsy report and his
signature stovepipe hat.
The last room you will visit
holds a changing exhibit comprised of
selected works from the Forbes art
collection.
Details
The Forbes Galleries are
open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and
Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Thursdays are
reserved for guided group tours - call
the curatorial office at 212-206-5549 for
advance group reservations). Admission is
free.
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