Commemorating the construction of the home of Heinrich Christian and Marie Steinhoff-Brinckmann on October 27, 1848, this Pennsylvania German carved wooden plaque, 11½ by 57 inches, earned the highest price of the sale at $1,920.
Review by Kiersten Busch
SCHNECKSVILLE, PENN. — Tom Hall Auctions closed out the first month of the new year on January 29 with a sale of Americana and primitives from Sunbury, Penn. The auction featured slightly more than 200 lots of apothecary items, primitive hardware, copper, Pennsylvania Dutch woodwork, early Victorian telephones and more. With no reserves, the sale sold 100 percent of lots and totaled $34,125.
The day was led by a Pennsylvania German hand-carved and painted architectural house plaque dated to 1848, which made $1,920. Inscribed in German with Gothic lettering, the sign translated to “This house was built on the 27th of October, 1848,” and included the names of the homeowners, Heinrich Christian and Sophie Marie Steinhoff-Brinckmann.
An early Pennsylvania cherry tall case clock earned the second-highest price of the sale, besting six additional lots of clocks to make $1,680. The 98-inch-high clock was signed by Bethlehem, Penn., clock maker Charles F. Beckel, and contained Beckel’s traditional Arabic numerals and arched moon-phase lunette; this piece in particular featured a lunette decorated with a pastoral scene. Other clocks on offer, in various shapes and sizes, ranged in price from $42 for a Waterbury steeple clock, to $120 for an antique Western Clock Company mantel clock.
Ticking to $1,680 was this early Pennsylvania tall case clock, 98 inches high by 20½ inches wide by 11½ inches deep, which was signed by Bethlehem, Penn., clockmaker Charles F. Beckel.
Three muskets crossed the block, led by a Colt Model 1861 “Special” musket manufactured in 1863, which shot to $1,260. The .58-caliber gun had a rifled barrel, walnut stock and was marked “U.S.” on its lock plate. A 1773 French infantry musket with a flintlock mechanism, wooden stock and a metal socket bayonet made $1,200, followed by an 1862-dated musket marked “U.S. Springfield,” which shot down a $600 total.
Three pistols also garnered bidder attention, including an Eighteenth Century flintlock pistol with ornate brass embellishments such as a floral motif and military symbols ($810), an antique British flintlock pocket pistol with a double-barrel design marked “London” and “Richard” ($690) and a double-barrel pin fire pistol with a wooden grip and carved details ($552).
Furniture was led by a circa 1850-60 ash burl table with an octagonal tabletop and natural grain patterns, which landed at $1,110. It was attributed to New York or Ohio and was featured in Steven S. Powers’ book North American Burl Treen: Colonial and Native American, which also accompanied the table as part of the lot.
Time was ticking on this antique wooden hourglass with a blown glass vessel, 7 inches tall, which sold to its new owner for $840 before the sands ran out.
Unique finds in the sale included an antique hourglass with a blown glass vessel encased in a wooden frame. Its wooden frame was reinforced with cylindrical supports secured by tensioned string, and it still contained sand and was functional. The 7-inch-tall object flipped to $840.
Cataloged as part of the “Collectibles” category, an industrial-style mechanical gas flow meter decorated with a series of interlinked gears followed behind the hourglass, inviting a $690 finish. The metal meter had a central gauge marked “Cubic Feet Per Hour” and contained multiple smaller dials which registered other measurements.
Several antique lanterns were popular with bidders, led by a pierced and embossed antique traveler’s example that lit up for $552. Most likely constructed from a mix of brass and tin, the lantern featured four convex lenses surrounded by decorative embossed detailing and had perforations on its top for ventilation. A primitive pierced tin lantern ($216), an antique tin model with a three-ring cage ($168), a Nineteenth Century whale oil tin example ($156) and an antique brass candle lantern ($84) also found new homes.
Antique tools were headed at $504 by a forged iron Gothic-style lock and key which incorporated a snake head design, as well as additional intricate engraved detailing and decorative rivets. Other lock and key combinations crossed the block for prices ranging from $78 for an antique Industrial door lock with key, to $360 for an Eighteenth Century iron lock with key.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 610-799-0808 or www.tomhallauctions.com.
