A friend stopped by and showed me an old photo album of a remarkable trophy room. Album was amoung some old books his father had collected. I have all 4 volumns of Safari-Press's "Great Hunters & their Trophy Rooms", but have not seen this collection featured. From the looks of the furniture and room I'm guessing these were taken in the 1960-70's.


(Edited) Sorry guys, I removed the photos...since posting this it's now believed the trophy room owner is not deceased. Out of respect to the privacy of the owner I think it would be best not to post these unless he wishes to do so. If there is some way to contact him and receive permission, I'd be happy to put them back up. Hope you understand....Thanks, Rembrandt.

Edit update: Have had several people contact me about reposting these photos, sounds like the collection has been dispersed and no longer exists as it once did. A truly amazing collection and a tribute to a great hunter.

I'm blown out of the water by those four full-mounted sheep... look at the mass!

There's a magnificent markhor in there somewhere too...

Jeez, just think about the time and effort that went into hunting all these animals... You'd pretty much have to do nothing else year round!

Frans

be careful you don't trip over the 100 pounders laying about the room

That is an amazing amount of hunting. It would definitely wear out some boots and fill up a few passports.

Kyler

That room is absolutely amazing. What a tremendous amount of time and effort must have been exerted to harvest that many trophy animals.

I bet none of those came from behind fences.

Thanks for posting these.....awesome trophies.
The number and quality of sheep in that room is impressive!

Amazing stuff, must be some interesting stories behind all those. Is that an example of a 'Texas heart shot' in the 9th pic on the left?

Pictures of trophy rooms like this amaze me. If only I had the time and money...

Hell, the one pic's got 4 tigers in it. How long have they been protected?

I noticed the multiple tigers and rhinos too, definitely the 60s or before.

I measured a collection for a gentleman (now gone to the happy hunting ground) who started hunting in the late 50s, and was still hunting when he died last year. One great part was listening to his stories and his wife's about the hunts such as the Kenya Northwest Frontier District, Uganda and Angola.

jim

An "amazing collection" doesn't even begin to describe this display. Let's hope someone is still taking care of this. Not only the variety but the multiple repeats of several species speak to the great many hunts represented there. I just looked over the pics again. Snow leopard, markhor, jaguar, black rhino Wow!

Mark

I believe there is a giant sable among the treasures, forest ele, male and female bongo...

WOW!

I have seen a few of these photo's in an old Weatherby Guide from the late 60's or early 70's.

I'll look it up tonight and see if I can find the name to go with the pics.

Keith

That is Sam Pancotto's home. Where did you get those pictures? Kathi Klimes knows Sam very well. She has even arranged some of his travel plans.

quote:

Originally posted by Palmer:
I bet none of those came from behind fences.

he has some neat stuff for sure.

quote:

You'd pretty much have to do nothing else year round!

Sounds like a good life to me.

That's an awesome trophy room by the way. Any other trophy rooms in those books of yours?

quote:

Originally posted by Dr.C:
That is Sam Pancotto's home. Where did you get those pictures? Kathi Klimes knows Sam very well. She has even arranged some of his travel plans.

Sorry guys, figured the room no longer existed and the person was deceased....but if not I don't want to post these without his permission. Hope you understand. Would sure like to hear more about his hunting adventures. Is he a member here?

I apparently checked out this thread too late!

But if the now missing photos were of Sam Pancotto's trophies, I can only imagine how spectacular they must be.

I am pretty sure that Sam Pancotto is very much alive. I don't think he posts here. Kathi does know him. He is certainly a big game hunter par excellence. And so is his wife Rosemary, who traveled and hunted the world with him

Earlier this year, he donated a large number of his trophies to the nature museum of a Catholic university in the Chicago suburb of Lisle, Illinois.

The Candor, Student News Magazine of Benedictine University (Lisle, IL)
volume xxviii issue 12 | week of jan. 22, 2007

Jurica Nature Museum Bags Big Gift of Big-Game Animals

By Stephany Mirelez, Senior News Editor

In the heart of Birck Hall lurk lions and leopards, recent arrivals from Oak Brook residents Sam and Rosemary Pancotto’s private collection. In honor of his approaching 80th birthday, Pancotto donated 53 of his stuffed and mounted animals to the Jurica Nature Museum. Estimated to be worth more than $2.3 million by the World Wildlife Appraisals, Pancotto's donation included sheep, a grizzly bear, lions, leopards and deer. "The school groups that visit the museum are going to be thrilled to see the lions," said Mary Mickus, education coordinator at the museum, in a statement. "They are very popular with school children." Pancotto’s gift enhances the museum's already impressive collection of more than 10,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, plants and insects, Mickus said in a telephone interview. "Pancotto’s donation includes animals the museum could not get any other way," she explained. "They are animals we cannot afford, animals we wouldn’t even try to get." A friend of Fr. Theodore Suchy, O.S.B., Paul Miessler put Pancotto in contact with the museum, and the big-game hunter and world traveler is more than happy to give his exotic animals a new home, he said in the Chicago Sun-Times. In an article later printed in the Sun-Times' incity rival, The Chicago Tribune, Pancotto, a retired apartment developer, admitted feeling a sense of loss at seeing his trophies go. "I feel sad, but they’re not going in the ground, and they're not being buried. They're going from a nice home to a probably nicer home. That's what counts." Over the last 50 years, Pancotto traveled as far as the Soviet Union's Pamir Mountains to hunt one of the most impressive pieces in his collection, a Marco Polo sheep, whose horns can grow as long as six feet. The first American allowed to hunt one since President Teddy Roosevelt, he also bagged an argali sheep a year later in Mongolia. He included both Asian rams, appraised at $250,000 each, in his donation. None of the animals in Pancotto's collection were endangered or hunted illegally. The Jurica Natura Museum, located in Birck Hall at the end of the walkway connecting the Hall of Science to Kindlon Hall, is open from 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 2-4 p.m. Sundays. Walk-ins are always welcome, said the museum staff, and students with an extra few minutes between classes would be remiss not to stop by and see Pancotto's generous gift to the university.

Both Bert Klineburger and Andrew Holmberg wrote of hunting with Sam and Rosemary in their excellent books on African hunting. I am glad their trophies will be available for public viewing in this museum. I hope the displays depict hunters in a favorable light, as conservationists and stewards of wildlife for later generations.

quote:

Originally posted by Sevens:
That's an awesome trophy room by the way. Any other trophy rooms in those books of yours?

Mr Pancotto's pics were from an old photo album a friend found. Some years ago I purchased all four volumns of "Great Hunters & Their Trophy Rooms". These books are full of trophy rooms similar to what was previously posted. Well worth the money....unfortunately all the pics in the books are copyright protected.

http://www.safaripress.com/search.php?mode=search&xid=0...6b40b029fa72c92ae816

Sorry Rembrandt1,
I did not mean to imply that you should not post Sam's pictures. I was just surprised to see them outside of a personal collection. The pictures that you posted are just a sampling of the trophies that were in Sam's collection. They are impresive aren't they.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr.C:
Sorry Rembrandt1,
I did not mean to imply that you should not post Sam's pictures. I was just surprised to see them outside of a personal collection. The pictures that you posted are just a sampling of the trophies that were in Sam's collection. They are impresive aren't they.

My understanding was that maybe Mr Pancotto had a number of these photo albums produced and passed them out to close friends or sold copies? Don't really know anymore than that.


My thinking was I'd feel a bit violated if someone posted pics of my home and trophies on the worldwide net without permission. Just assumed they were they were from another era and a persons connected would be deceased. My error.

Does anyone know him well enough to ask him if it's OK?

.....dang!!!

Sounds like I missed some great trophy animals...

Dave

As of January Mr. and Mrs. Pancotto have donated their trophy collection, estimated at $2 million, to The Jurica Nature Museum at Benedictine University which is open to the public.
That said, I think it would be appropriate to post the photos if you are so inclined.

I would still love to see the photos! Sounds like i missed a pretty amazing room.

Pics have been reposted, several people have been in contact requesting to see these again. Since the collection has been donated and no longer exists it seems right to honor the hunter and his collection.

WOW! That is an amazing room. Thanks for reposting the pictures.

Only thing missing is Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.

Wow!!!

One never tires of looking at incredible trophy rooms like this! My eye was drawn to the snow leopard, sables, many cats and rams. I chuckled when I spotted the two 'swamp booger/artisian monkeys', evidence of Mr.and Mrs. Pancotto's sense of humor amid their hunting life story.

The room is reminicent of the first time I saw C.J.McElroy's trophy room (replicated from his L.A.and later Tucson home) at the SCI International Wildlife Museum about 20 years ago. So very impressive!

What a great place to curl up in front of the fireplace and read a classic or simply daydream of the adventure involved with each mounted piece.

Thank you for sharing!

Unreal. This query may very well never be answered, but I wonder what the story is with the tiger cubs. I don't suppose that they were found on the side of the highway after being hit by a milk truck...

KG

I guess when you run out of room to prominently display your rhino trophies that says it all!

And the full body mounts of his "best" Grand Slam is unbelievable.
I hope I don't get sued for using the term Grand Slam

quote:

And the full body mounts of his "best" Grand Slam is unbelievable.

The Stone in particular makes my heart flutter.

Wow.

Canuck

How about the wall of leopards. Not only a black leopard but Sam has a Snow leopard.

Shazam...that's amazing. I want to know who cuts his grass?

When I saw the tiger cubs I knew that I had seen this before but can't recall where.

There is some really big ivory there...nice markhor...huge sable (is one of them a giant Angolan?)...the black and snow leopards...that lion is stunning...the rams...that buff above the lion cubs...the more I look the more I see tucked away...that wide mule deer...HEAVY horned elk, etc. etc. etc.

I couldn't find the monkeys Mary referred to?

Yukon,

LOL...7th picture, there's one to the upper left of the life size rams. I'll let you find the other one!

Mary

At least 8 sets of elephant tusks. The ivory alone is worth I don't know how much.

I could be wrong ... my wife was when she married me ... but I just might venture a guess that the trophy room belonged to the legendary Herb Klein. I have seen a picture of him long ago in front of those tigers ...

Now that I went back and looked at the baby tigers I am not sure that they were the same ones in my foggy memory ... could both trophy hunters have done up three tigers like that ???

I saw Sam and his wife in the bar at DSC this year. They both looked great.

She has taken some of those incredible tusks as I recall.