DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. – On June 19-20, 2009 Pook & Pook, Inc. will offer the collection of El Roy P. and Helene Livingood Master of Berks County, Pennsylvania. A historically important lifelong compilation from a fabulously wealthy Reading, Pa., family, the collection includes a wide variety of objects from American and Continental furniture and fine art to American glass and folk art. Internet live bidding will be available through www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
The core of the collection housed at Berksveldt Farm, in the rolling countryside near Reading, has its roots in late 19th-century Germany. Young Ferdinand Thun and Henry Janssen left home to seek their fortune in America, specifically Reading, Pa. Why Reading? A century ago it was a business and industrial powerhouse. Nestled between two great valleys, the town laid out by William Penn’s sons – Thomas and Richard Penn – had been an important military base in the French and Indian War, and during the American Revolution, its local iron output exceeded that of England in its entirety. In the early 19th century, during the great “turnpike and canal” era, the city boomed with the construction of the Reading Railroad, whose lines radiated in all directions from the city’s hub.
Reading was the perfect site for Thun and Janssen’s new venture, Berkshire Knitting Mills, which went on to become one of the largest companies in its sector. Janssen, the more mechanically minded of the two partners, also invented the very machinery used worldwide to knit many kinds of fabric. It did not take Thun and Janssen very long to amass an immense fortune.
Henry’s two daughters, Helen Janssen Wetzel and Minnie Janssen Livingood were no strangers to fine art and gracious living. The heiresses started collecting fine art and antiques at an early age. Long before World War II, they were well-known attendees at Parke Bernet Galleries and other major Madison Avenue dealers, as well as early antique shows. Their accumulating continued on a grand scale until the untimely death of Minnie before the full completion of the elegant country estate, Berksveldt Farm,
While Helen’s collection was auctioned shortly after her death in 1980 by Sotheby’s during a week-long record-setting event, Minnie’s collection remained at Berksveldt Farm and continued to be cherished by future generations. After World War II, Helene Livingood Master, Minnie’s daughter, and her husband, El Roy P. Master, purchased Berksveldt Farm and its furnishings.
With the passing of El Roy in 2008, it was decided that the entire collection should be dispersed at auction so others could now have the opportunity to enjoy the legacy. That event will take place at Pook & Pook on June 19 and 20, 2009.
The sale will begin on Friday evening with over 50 Oriental carpets and mats, led by a circa-1880 room-size Agra with an overall floral pattern on a lime field (est. $10,000 – 15,000). Other room-size carpets and long runners include Heriz, Malayer, Mahal, Shirvan, Karabaugh, Seychour, Akstafa, etc.
Also selling on Friday night will be over 80 lots of colored and clear glasswares. Five Tiffany Favrile glass vases and perfumes including a green vase with pulled-feather decoration and an agate perfume will be offered, some with their original paper labels. A signed Lalique Avalon smoke glass vase with antelope-form handles and Lalique perfume bottles in the Lotus pattern will garner attention together with other unique Lalique items.
Some outstanding pieces of blown colored glass will be offered throughout the evening. A large New York aqua lily pad pitcher, 8 inches high with a threaded neck is estimated at $4,000 – 6,000). Other fine aqua glass items include a Redford Glass Works deep color type, a lily pad vase and a pale aqua lily pad cream pitcher. An extremely rare 32-rib pale lime green sugar, probably from New Jersey, is estimated at $3,000 – 5,000.
One of the top glass lots is a pair of South Jersey pitchers and witch’s balls, circa 1850, steel blue with opaque white loop decoration attributed to Whitney Glass Works. Six amethyst Sandwich tulip vases will be sold, including a pair in a puce tone, 10 inches high (est. $4,000 – 5000). Various Stiegel type and Sandwich blown cobalt objects will be sold including 3-mold condiment bottles, vases, master salts, creamers, sugar, a Pittsburgh 16-rib cruet, etc. Rounding out the glass category are amber blown glass bowls, enameled flips and mugs, clear blown glass items and two New England Glass Company fruit paperweights.
Friday night’s session will end with the sale of El Roy P. Master’s gun collection, beginning with a prized Ivo Fabbri shotgun. This Italian custom-made gun has French walnut stock with fine checkering, a highly engraved receiver with fold inlay, 28-inch barrels, and silver monogrammed escutcheon (est. $25,000 – 35,000). A pair of numbered Aguirre & Aranzabal Spanish shotguns, an Arietta y Cia Spanish side-by-side shotgun, and two Martin Kruschtiz German shotguns are also of interest. A Lancaster, Pa., flintlock long rifle by Melchoir Fordney, circa 1825, with a relief carved tiger maple full stock and ornate brass furniture is sure to attract bidders (est. $5,000 – 10,000).
Some outstanding folk art will be sold on Friday and Saturday, the highlight being 17 carvings by Wilhelm Schimmel. Schimmel, a Cumberland Valley, Pa., carver, is well known for his colorful bird and animal figures, especially eagles and eaglets. A wonderful vibrant carved and painted tiger retaining a black and white striped surface with red and green highlights is a standout (est. $50,000 – 80,000) along with a large, 9-inch-high figure of an eagle with broad tail and black and yellow decoration (est. $40,000 – 60,000). Other figures include two colorful squirrels, rooster, and eaglets. Another important carving is a rooster attributed to another Pennsylvania carver, Aaron Mountz,
With their stylized pinwheels and floral decoration, boxes by the “Compass Artist” are sought after, and there are two fine examples in this sale. The first will be sold on Friday and has a red and white decoration on a blue ground (est. $30,000 – 60,000).
A rare Maryland redware urn dated 1874 and signed by the potter James C. Mackley, a student of Anthony Baecher, will be sold. Only a few signed examples are known. This piece has S-scroll handles, applied florettes, incised floral spray, and a coggled, stepped base (est. $12,000 – 18,000).
Several fraktur will be offered on Friday evening. A Virginia birth certificate for Elizabeth McDonald with eagle and stylized flowers (est. $4,000 – 7,000), a Friederich Bandel Virginia piece with unicorns and parrots (est. $5,000 – 10,000), a colorful Berks County, Pa. example with vibrant birds and tulips, and a Pennsylvania fraktur by Andreas Kessler with lions, eagle, and parrots (est. $4,000 – 7,000) are all fine examples.
Many fine pieces of American and Georgian furniture will be presented on both Friday and Saturday. Of the four highboys being offered in the sale, the most important is an outstanding Philadelphia Queen Anne traditional carved mahogany scroll-top high chest of drawers, circa 1775. The carving is attributed to the hands of two craftsmen, Samuel Harding and “The Garvan Carver.” The two carvers lived in close proximity to one another and worked at the same shop. The chest of drawers purportedly was owned by the Baron Henry William Stiegel.
Two significant Massachusetts chests of drawers will be sold including a Chippendale mahogany clock-front example (est. $20,000 – 40,000) and a walnut Chippendale serpentine-front example with inlaid edge, fan carving and ball and claw feet.
Of the many and various chairs, several important ones include a New England Queen Anne mahogany easy chair with cabriole legs joined by block and ring turned stretchers, a Philadelphia Chippendale easy chair with Marlborough feet, a Pennsylvania William and Mary walnut banister back armchair and two New England lolling chairs. A set of 12 New York carved mahogany dining chairs is another highlight (est. $30,000 – 40,000).
The New York Federal inlaid mahogany sideboard with a deeply serpentine front and patarae inlay is a fine piece, as is the Massachusetts Federal inlaid mahogany secretary breakfront bookcase. Both pieces took pride of place in the family dining room.
A wide variety of tables will be available during the sale. Significant pieces include a New York Federal carved mahogany three-part dining table attributed to the workshop of Duncan Phyfe (est. $25,000 – 50,000), a Baltimore Federal inlaid mahogany Pembroke table (est. $8,000 – 12,000), a New England curly maple sewing stand, a Philadelphia card table, and a pair of George III painted satinwood console tables, circa 1790 (est. $5,000 – 10,000). Another important table, used in the “flower room” at Berksveldt Farm, is a New England Chippendale mahogany slab table, circa 1780, probably Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Painting and portraits from the many rooms include examples by Dutch and German artists Anton Seitz, Ludwig Knaus, Anthonie Palamedes, Isaac von Ostade, school of Cornelia DeRyck and others. A pair of oil-on-panel seascapes by British artist Thomas Luny will attract attention.
Of the 70 lots of silver, one of the most significant is a Georgian silver epergne, circa 1767-1768 bearing the touch of Butty & Dumee, with an oval reticulated basket and four arms (est. $12,000 – 18,000). Many other pieces of Georgian silver including candlesticks, caster, candelabra, caudle cups and salvers will be sold.
Accessory items abound in all categories, from a Chester County, Pennsylvania spice box to an assembled 200-piece Adams Rose dinner service. Over 20 samplers and needleworks decorated the farm, including a fine Chester County example by Hannah Brinton. Mirrors, tea caddies, lockboxes, lamps, Staffordshire, Meissen, andirons, pewter, and wrought-iron garden furniture are all included.
The sale will culminate with the personal wine collection of El Roy P. Master comprising more than 400 bottles. The selection includes Chatau Lafite Rothschild (the earliest a 1934), La Tache, Romanee Conti, Petrus, Montrachet, Riesling, Madeira, sherry, etc.
The lifestyle of a bygone era is exemplified throughout the auction inventory, from the children’s custom-made Windsor chairs found in one of the attics to the 1961 Chateau Petrus from the wine cellar. For additional information on any lot in the sale, call 610-269-4040 or 610-269-0695 or email info@pookandpook.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the auction at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
