Dana Auctions to sell Parker & Neal mola collection May 16

By AI, Created 11:00 AM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – Dana Auctions will open the first sale of the Parker & Neal Mola Collection on May 16 in Princeton, New Jersey, offering 200 lots of Guna Yala reverse-appliqué textiles from one of the best-documented private mola holdings in the U.S. The auction includes historically significant, political, religious and pop-culture panels, with more sales planned.

Why it matters: - The auction puts one of the most significant private collections of mola textile art on the public market for the first time. - The sale offers museums, collectors and scholars a rare chance to acquire documented examples from a collection built by two key figures in mola scholarship. - The collection helps preserve and reintroduce Guna Yala textile traditions to a wider audience.

What happened: - Dana Auctions will hold the first auction of the Parker & Neal Mola Collection on Saturday, May 16, 2026. - The sale will offer 200 lots of hand-stitched mola panels from the Guna Yala comarca of Panama. - The auction will take place in person in Princeton, New Jersey, and will also be simulcast online. - The collection comes from the private holdings of Ann Parker and Avon Neal, co-authors of Molas: Folk Art of the Cuna Indians. - Dana Auctions describes the sale as the first public dispersal of one of the best-documented private mola collections assembled in the U.S.

The details: - Parker and Neal published Molas: Folk Art of the Cuna Indians in 1977 through Barre Publishing. - The book is described as the first definitive work on the mola tradition and a standard reference in the field. - Parker, a photographer, and Neal, a folklorist and writer, traveled repeatedly to the San Blas Islands during the 1960s and 1970s. - The pair collected directly from Guna women and documented the textile tradition for scholarly publication. - The book has been cited by the Smithsonian Institution, the William Benton Museum of Art at the University of Connecticut and institutional collections worldwide. - The auction includes narrative and documentary panels such as a mola commemorating the Apollo moon landing, one depicting the Panama Canal and another showing a helicopter with passengers. - Political commemoratives include panels for the First Kunayala Congress, a Canal Zone contact-era naval vessel, campaign portraits and a portrait of President Galindo. - Advertising and brand imagery includes Kool Cigarettes and Pingüino Matches, Cinzano Vermouth, RCA Victor’s “His Master’s Voice” and Parrot Safety Matches. - Pop-culture panels include Topo Gigio, Antonio Aguilar as Charro and the Merlion of Singapore. - Religious and syncretic imagery includes Cosmological and Biblical Syncretism, the Temptation of Adam and Eve, Saint Francis of Assisi dated 1962, and multiple Nativity and Crucifixion panels. - Other lots feature twin owls, paired hummingbirds, thunderbird-and-halibut mythic scenes, soulbird panels, caimans and spirit figures. - Technical and observational molas include three handsaws, three pliers and crossed pistols. - Botanical and geometric abstractions include labyrinths, stepped-meander grounds and dense polychrome leaf-lattices. - The auction is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET on May 16. - In-person preview runs Friday, May 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. - Dana Auctions will host a Facebook Live preview at 5 p.m. ET on May 15 on the company’s Facebook page. - Every lot is documented to the Parker & Neal Collection. - The sale will have no hidden reserves, and shipping is available.

Between the lines: - The collection reflects a mix of scholarship and collecting that shaped how mola art has been studied and authenticated. - The breadth of subject matter suggests the sale is aimed at both specialty textile buyers and institutions looking for historically important material culture. - The documentation behind each lot may help drive interest from buyers who value provenance as much as imagery.

What’s next: - Dana Auctions says this May 16 sale is Part 1 of multiple planned sales from the Parker & Neal Collection. - The company says future parts will be announced through its regular channels. - Interested bidders can review the collection during the May 15 preview or follow the online simulcast during the auction.

The bottom line: - Dana Auctions is turning a landmark private mola archive into a multi-part public sale, with documented works that span politics, religion, pop culture and traditional Guna imagery.