Pook & Pook – Americana & International Auction
May 4 & 5 at 9 am
63 East Lancaster Avenue Downingtown, Pennsylvania 19335
www.PookandPook.com
info@PookandPook.com
610-269-4040

DOWNINGTOWN, PENN. — Pook & Pook has announced details of its Americana & International sale, May 4-5. The antiques and artworks assembled for this sale are significant for their representation of hallowed makers, illustrious owners and famous sales of the past. Many have been off the market for decades, some half a century or more. This sale affords the opportunity to purchase antiques from noted collectors Israel Sack, Titus Geesey, Ada Musselman, the Machmer family, the Garvan family, William K. duPont, H. Richard Dietrich Jr, Margaret Berwind Schiffer and famous collections such as the Pioneer collection of Dr Donald and Mrs Shelley, of Drs Donald and Patricia Herr, Howard and Jean Lipman, Edgar and Bernice Garbisch, the Fenimore Art Museum and the Packwood House Museum. Seven of the 13 colonies are represented by early craftsmen such as Nathan Star, William Will, Samuel McIntire, John Seymour, Henry Adam, John Dixwell, Lebbeus Dod, Thomas Affleck, Joseph Barry and John Pollard. Historic owners include the Penn family, a 1732 Pennsylvania monastic settlement the Ephrata Cloister, the 1752 mayor of Philadelphia Robert Strettell, Revolutionary War privateer Captain John Southward, the Empress of China Captain John Green and a heroic Civil War US Cavalry colonel.

Day One launches with a Marklin clockwork New York paddle wheel river boat, early Twentieth Century. This colorful and elaborate vessel was part of a New Jersey educational institution’s collection for half a century. Another highlight from the same institution is an English Staffordshire slipware decorated doll cradle, dated 1698 and initialed MC.

Susan Fetterolf and Jeff Gorrin began their collection 30 years ago, developing a focus on the Oley Valley in Berks County, Penn. They acquired a number of rare and known provenanced works. One of the best-known is a Lancaster County pine drysink, late Eighteenth Century, found in the Ephrata Cloister and illustrated in Wendy Cooper and Lisa Minardi’s Paint, Pattern and People. Another noted item is a Berks County pine hanging corner cupboard, circa 1790, exhibited at Winterthur in “Colorful Folk: Pennyslvania Germans and the Art of Everyday Life.” A Pennsylvania German painted poplar schrank is one of the very few robust examples of early Eighteenth Century furniture of German design. Six Pennsylvania bent arrowback side chairs are attributed to the shop of Joseph Jones of Chester County, circa 1820. Other highlights include an early Nineteenth Century Pennsylvania painted two-part corner cupboard with original vibrant surface; a New Jersey gumwood and walnut kas, circa 1790, by Matthew Egerton Junior; an Eighteenth Century Lancaster County Conestoga wagon box with elaborate tulip-form wrought iron hardware; a Franklin Eshelman oil on canvas of the Snyder Farm in Oley Valley, circa 1895; a painted pine tavern table, mid-Eighteenth Century, originally found in a Kintnersville chapel; and an early Nineteenth Century Oley Valley pine blanket chest, with original abstract grain-decorated surface and an arresting painted eye motif.

A rare Samuel Plank wall box, a last-minute addition to the sale from a private collection, is set to cross the block on day one.

Noted highlights from a Delaware collector feature Chester County William and Mary banister back chairs, circa 1720, including both a rare pair of side chairs and a rare armchair. A Chester County William and Mary walnut desk on frame, circa 1755, is probably by James Milhaus of New Garden Township and descended in the family to at least 1854. Also noted is a Philadelphia Queen Anne walnut tall chest in two parts, circa 1770, and a set of four Pennsylvania Queen Anne walnut dining chairs, circa 1740. Philotesia Owen (1697-1782) gazes serenely from her pastel portrait. Wife of Robert Strettell, the mayor of Philadelphia from 1751 to 1752, was a prominent Quaker and appears unadorned, in modest brown silks with a touch of blue.

A selection of more than 40 quilts comes from the Packwood House Museum of Lewisburg. Founded in 1972 by a bequest from Edith Fetherston, the museum closed its doors in 2022.

Twenty-six artworks from the Fenimore Art Museum, sold to benefit the acquisitions fund, include fine art with storied provenance from the Howard and Jean Lipman collection, the Edgar and Bernice Garbisch collection, the Mr and Mrs William J. Gunn collection, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Boston Athenaeum. Works include Hudson River landscapes, a Nineteenth Century American oil on canvas folk art new England harbor scene, a Nineteenth Century Massachusetts folk art landscape of the sycamore tree at the Moses Rice Farm, Charlemont, a carved and painted cigar store Indian tobacconist figure and a large painted pine fireboard, circa 1800, depicting two armies before a city.

Day Two takes flight with a Frank Finney folk art bird tree. Rising from a sprouting-leaf base, the tree branches bristle with the energy of 11 fluttering birds. Featured collections include Mr and Mrs Whitman Ball, Dr and Mrs Irving Williams of Lewisburg, Penn., Dr Larry McCallister, the Garvan family and the estate of Max G. Bleiler. The marquee item is a Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany tall case clock, circa 1770 with carving attributed to John Pollard, and descended in the family of Captain John Green (1736-1796) of Philadelphia, famous for captaining the first American ship to trade directly with China. Another important lot is a Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany dining chair attributed to the shop of Thomas Affleck, purportedly made for the Penn family and given to the Cresson family.

Pook & Pook Auctioneers and Appraisers is at 463 East Lancaster Avenue. For additional information, www.pookandpook.com or 610-269-4040.