Broder buck final price tag: $255,000 in auction

[spectr17]

Jul 13 2004

CBC

Trophy deer antlers sold, former owner fined



Edmonton - An elderly man who went to jail over a set of deer antlers says he isn't sorry he lied to the court and his family about selling the trophy rack, which had belonged to his father.

"The court was trying to steal them from me," the 75 year old said outside court Tuesday, after being fined $53,000 in the convoluted case.

The Broder antlers
After months of legal limbo, the record-sized mule deer antlers are now in the hands of an American collector, and the price they fetched at auction – $225,000 US – will be split between Broder and his six siblings.

The $53,000 fine will go to his six siblings for the legal costs they incurred trying to unearth the whereabouts of the antlers.

The case began in 1997, when Don Broder's siblings started court proceedings to have the trophy rack – shot by their father in 1926 – sold and the money divided.

Don Broder fought to keep the antlers, insisting that he had promised his father, on his deathbed, that he would keep the deer head in the family. He lost that fight in March, and the court ordered him to turn over the antlers.

But he refused, once again citing his promise to his father, was found in contempt of court and jailed on April 22. He sat in jail for 10 days, before admitting that he had sold the rack – months before he lost the court case.

Tuesday, Don Broder said he isn't sure why he lied about where the antlers were.

"I was probably out of my mind at that time," he said. "Because of the pressure, because of the pressure that you're put into at that time."

Broder's lawyer says they plan to appeal the $53,000 fine, the original lawsuit decision which said his siblings had a right to a share in the antlers and his contempt of court conviction, for which he spent 10 days in jail. Broder says the judge in the case was "biased and prejudiced from day one."

Ed Broder shot the deer in 1926, and died in 1968 without a will. The antlers didn't become an issue until almost 30 years after his death.

Don Broder had possession of the antlers since 1973, but in 1997 his six siblings launched the lawsuit to have the trophy antlers sold and the money divided.

The antlers are famous in hunting circles, still holding the world record for a non-typical mule deer.

[russd]

i assume this was shot in canada?