: - A carved, spread-winged eagle by Wilhelm Schimmel topped the
bill at Conestoga's auction this past Saturday, October 4, as the
Pennsylvania folk art collection of Selma and Ray Mead was
offered.
The auction, which totaled more than $660,000, attracted a huge
amount of attention, including a record number of phone bidders
for the gallery.
The eagle, cataloged as being in pristine original condition,
sold for $33,000 to a local collector in the gallery after stiff
competition from several others in the room and five phone
bidders.
The rare eagle carried a provenance of having once resided in the
collection of Dr Auman, a collector of note from Mifflinberg,
Penn., who originally purchased the piece at an early Pennypacker
auction. It then resurfaced after more than 50 years when Auman's
collection was sold at auction. Further provenance listed David
Wheatcroft and Pennsylvania-German authority Peter Dean.
The eagle, in the original black paint with a red and yellow
painted beak, yellow feet and a green base measured seven inches
in height with a wingspan of ten inches.
A complete review of the sale will appear in a future issue.
