Jan Koltun and Her Bear To Go on “Roadshow”

Jan Koltun-Titus with her Inuit dancing bear “Charleston”

By Margie Doyle

Jan Koltun-Titus, her husband Jack, and her Inuit Bear sculpture “Charleston” will travel to Boise, Idaho next month for an appearance on the public television series, “Antiques Road Show.”

Jan, who grew up on Orcas Island, living in what is now the Kangaroo House, applied to be on the show about two years ago when it was in San Diego, but didn’t get in. This spring, however, she was asked by the Roadshow to apply again for tickets  and won a place at the show, to be held on June 29.

Jan has long thought Charleston would make a strong impression at the Antiques Road Show, and she also plans to take along a smaller painting that she obtained as the wife of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) administrator.

Charleston, also known familiarly as just “Bear,” is a massive stone bear that Jan’s father rescued from a yacht up in Princess Louisa about forty years ago.  Jan says, “The folks were rafted in 2,000-foot deep water on a Fourth of July weekend. Bear’s previous owners were drunk and squabbling and the husband was about to throw him into the water, so Dad bought it from him for $100.

“I call him Charleston, because that’s what he looks like he’s doing.  Jack turns him around facing the wall so he looks like he’s peeing, but I always turn him back out.”

Jan had the sculpture appraised at an Inuit Gallery in British Columbia in Vancouver about 10 years ago.  The sculpture is of the dancing bear genre, although it has both feet on ground. It is of a darker stone than the more highly valued jade.

Jan says, “I feel grateful when I look at him. He was almost lost and he had such a nice retrieval.”

Jan inherited Bear when her father passed away. She is currently writing a biographical memoir of her father, who traveled throughout the world as a sea captain. He brought many souvenirs back home, including a kangaroo; hence the name of the historic lodging on North Beach Road. Jan first left Orcas Island as a high school senior, when she won a scholarship to Annie Wright Seminary (girls’ school) in Tacoma.

Jan’s husband, Jack Titus, will accompany her and Bear to Boise; as her guest he is also allowed to bring two items to the Roadshow. She expects that Jack will bring some of his antique guns.

It will take some doing to get to the Antiques Roadshow in Boise; Jan plans to go by train, and is eagerly anticipating the adventure. She also expects that Bear will make it into the filmed portion of the popular PBS series, “because he’s pretty… and sturdy” Jan says. Indeed he is: though short of stature — about 21 inches tall — Bear holds his own in weight, at over 100 pounds.

“I think Antiques Roadshow grabs our imagination because the program is a metaphor for finding undiscovered treasures within ourselves.  The physical stuff, such as Charleston the Bear, aren’t as important as the treasures we find inside our hearts and heads.”

Aside from the trip and filming logistics, Jan has one niggling concern: “I need to figure out what to say if they do appraise it favorably?  Everybody always says, “Oh, wow!” or “You’re kidding!”  Maybe something like: “I might take a trip to the North Pole on the proceeds?” or “That’s a lot of bear!”