Prized 18th century pewter tankard among 300 lots set to sell Jan. 15-19

DOWNINGTOWN -- Pook & Pook, Inc. rings in the New Year with an exciting four-day Americana

event January 15th-19th. The catalog sale will be held on Friday and Saturday, followed by two days of online only auctions on Monday and Tuesday.

Friday’s activities kick off with an all-day preview that extends into a catered reception from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. The evening’s auction of three hundred lots commences at 6:00pm and will focus exclusively on the collection of Jeanne and Bernard B. Hillman of Wyckoff, New Jersey. In addition to noteworthy pieces of American (and particularly New England) redware and folk art, the Hillmans amassed an impressive pewter collection.

Auction house founder Ron Pook referred to it as “One of the most notable pewter collections in America.” No great American pewter collection would be complete without a piece of William Will pewter and Pook & Pook, Inc. will be selling four, including one of the finest American tankards extant, ca. 1780 and attributed to Will. Other great names appearing within the Hillman Collection are Philadelphia maker, Johann Alberti, William Kirby and Peter Young of New York, and Boston’s Robert Bonnynge.

Saturday’s sale, opening at 9:00am, provides just as much entertainment. Over five hundred lots from great estates, collections, and institutions will captivate bidders until the final hammer strikes. Strong artwork leads off, including six marine and Hudson Valley landscapes by New York artist Thomas Chambers, known for his expressively bright, modern take on traditional landscape painting. Highlights also include a Harry Bertoia copper floating island sculpture with later trees added by Bertoia Studios, and multiple impressive folk portraits. One vibrant, ca. 1840, example features a child picking flowers. Pook & Pook additionally offers a collection of miniature portraits from a Main Line, Pennsylvania church as well as several strong Pennsylvania fraktur and samplers.

Pennsylvania and New England furniture make an impressive showing, starting with a Chester County, Pennsylvania Queen Anne walnut Octorara chest on chest, ca. 1760. Illustrated in Beckerdite’s American Furniture, this Octorara chest comes to Pook & Pook, Inc. from the collection of Margaret Berwyn Schiffer. A Pennsylvania Snow Hill Nunnery poplar and hard pine communal trestle table is another highlight, as is an important Pennsylvania painted settee, ca. 1840. Attributed to Mifflintown Chair Works in Juniata County, the crest is decorated with a dramatic landscape of rolling hills, trees, and a series of ten building spires in the distance. The piece appears in Zilla Lea’s The Ornamental Chair and a similar settee from the same shop was sold by Pook & Pook, Inc. in 2007 from the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Donald Shelley, realizing $128,700. Furniture enthusiasts should also look into a Massachusetts William & Mary walnut and cherry two part high chest, ca. 1740, from the private collection of Israel Sack of Virginia, as well as an exceedingly rare Mid-Atlantic Hepplewhite mahogany and cherry bowfront chest of drawers, possibly from the shop of Charles Cameron of Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

Midway through the sale, Pook & Pook, Inc. presents the Estate of Mark and Joan Eaby of Brownstown, Pennsylvania. This intriguing collection features about fifty lots of fine furniture and Americana, including marked Pennsylvania copperware, 170 pieces of Mottahedeh Canton porcelain dinnerware, and a Federal mahogany sideboard, ca. 1800, with large griffin oval cartouches, line and fan inlays.

Following the Eaby collection, the remaining lots are interspersed with a rare assortment of over fifty pieces of miniature and child’s furniture. Ranging from chests, sideboards, and a Pennsylvania cherry and tiger maple tall case clock to a Japanned table, some examples come to Pook & Pook, Inc. from

the Philadelphia collection of Theodore Kapnek collection. Another wooden piece of note is a carved figurehead bust of John Schultz Schriver of Baltimore, the president of the Ericsson Line of transportation companies operating between Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. The figurehead was installed on the Ericsson Line steamship John S. Schriver and descended through Schriver’s family.

Moving to more delicate offerings, Pook & Pook, Inc. presents a plethora of fine art glass. Pieces from Tiffany Studios, Gallé, Moser, Steuben, and others light up the sale with a variety of Art Nouveau lamps and vases. In the opposite category, a Pennsylvania Cowden and Wilcox four-gallon lidded crock leads an impressive gathering of Mid-Atlantic and New England stoneware. The crock is decorated with a rare depiction of a dog carrying a basket in its mouth. A similarly-decorated jug was sold at Pook & Pook, Inc. in 2012 for a realized price of $49,770.

Whether one prefers stoneware, glassware, furniture, or American art, the January 15th and 16th sales are full of collection-enhancing pieces. Interested bidders are encouraged to contact Pook & Pook, Inc. at info@pookandpook.com or (610) 269-4040, www.pookandpook.com.