It was the special genius of 18th and 19th C. craftsmen to make ordinary objects
extraordinary. Utilitarian furnishings like small looking glasses and watchholders were
carved and painted. Color and design turned pantries and table top boxes into decoration. And early lighting took on a gallery of forms limited only by the gifts of the individual
artisan. We do our best to bring you the rarest and most distinctive accessories in the
hope that they will brighten your home as they did other homes centuries ago.
Early Lehnware Sugar Bucket
19th C. paint-decorated sugar bucket by Joseph Lehn (1798-1892). White oak. 9 ½”h x 8”d. Lehn spent his early life as a farmer in Elizabeth Township, Lancaster County, PA, but in his 50s became a turner and cooper, producing a wide variety of woodenwork and decorating each piece in the style that has made him one of the most collected folk artists of the 19th C. Although he continued to work up until the last year of his life, the cut nails used in the cleat beneath the lid mark this sugar bucket or sugar stand as one of his earlier pieces, probably made between 1855 and 1870. Entirely original, and the oxidized surface is untouched and gorgeous.
$2,550
.
Four 19th C. R.C. Remmey
Stoneware Tavern Mugs
Rare set of four ca. 1850-1860 barrel form pint tavern mugs, attributed to Richard Clinton Remmey of Philadelphia, the last of the legendary Remmey family of potters. Cobalt decorated, with a cobalt infilled inscription to a patron known as “Mc C.” Save for one in-the-making salt drip, all four are quite literally perfect.
$2,550
Primitive Adjustable
Wooden Candle Holder
Wonderful late 18th C. candle stand with jointed arm. The arm terminal has two candle sockets, one in an underslung piece secured with rosehead nails, the other at the end of an arm riveted at its pivot point through a mid-Victorian copper penny. Apparently, when age and wear eroded the pivot points allowing the candle arm to droop, the innermost pivot point was buffered with an iron washer and brought level with a leather shim. Then it was re-riveted using the penny as a bearing surface. 16 ½”H. English, 19th C. replaced base.
$465
Buttocks Basket in Red Paint
Late 19th C. ash splint buttocks basket in original red surface. Tightly woven . One miniscule break on the underside. 10¾” L x 8½”D x 9”H to the top of the handle.
$395
Oversized 19th C.
New England Splint Basket
Huge oak splint work basket with notched loop handles and double wrapped rim. 36”L x 18½”W x 8”H. Very minor splint breaks. This is the largest and one of the best baskets I’ve ever owned, and the patina is rich and mellow.
Ex-Meryl Weiss, ex-Barbara Pollack.
$1,150
PA Paint-Decorated Slide Lid Box
Miniature 19th C. Pennsylvania painted slide lid box. Original red paint with diagonal sponged decoration in oyster white. Wood pegged construction
4¼”L x 2½”H x 2½”D.
$750
Pre-Revolutionary War
Tinted Spectacles
Ca. 1750-1780 hand-formed steel-framed spectacles with articulated temples, tie-on loop terminals and emerald green oval lenses. After 1760 most eyeglasses had adjustable temple pieces and after 1800 spectacles were available with grafted-on secondary lenses on the sides for additional protection. No breaks in rims or temples and the green lenses appear to be original.
$450
Small Pennsylvania Trinket Box
An unusually small example of the kind of 19th box often erroneously identified as solely Scandinavian. Oval pine bentwood body with splint-sewn laps and notched latches at each end to secure the top. Sides and top are decorated with impressed geometric designs. The underside is signed “Mary.” These work boxes are the products of the northern European culture that includes Norway, Sweden and Germany, and the geometric designs on this box match those on a box of identical construction in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Museum curators attribute that box to Pennsylvania where this box was also found. 6¼”L x 4”H.
$695
18th C. Northeastern Ash Burl Bowl
Large black ash burl bowl with the flaring vertical profile usually found only in early turned burl. Extremely deep with good swirling figure. 16” x 8”, an unusual 2:1 aspect ratio. Unwaxed, unvarnished. Lightly bleached interior, probably from use as a food or bread bowl. Fine incised turnings on the sides. Great early 19th C. forged nail repair of a rim split and a late 19th C. patch to a crack with two sheets of tiinned iron. Ca. 1760-1780. Steven Powers shows a similar bowl on p. 42 of North American Burl Treen, and Nutting illustrates a bowl of identical form as fig. 3792 in Furniture Treasury.
$1,675
19th C. Dressing Mirror in Yellow Paint
Wonderful small folky mirror with ogee molded frame, square nails and original yellow surface with dotted decoration. Mirror plate is almost certainly original. This country mirror never had a back.
5” x 6”.
$425
Miniature Courting Mirror
Rare early 19th C. American miniature courting mirror. 5 ½” x 9”. Tinned iron frame complete with reverse-painted glass surround, punchwork shell-form scalloped crest and corner bosses, and early, apparently original, mirror. Probably made in Pennsylvania during the first quarter of the 1800s.
$975
18th C. Spiral Candlestick
Early 18th C. spiral candlestick on a turned and black-painted base. The 7-turn flat wound stem identifies it as English. Both base and traveler are original. Ca. 1725-1750.
$350
Bennington Porcelain Phrenology Head
Rare Bennington Pottery inkwell with cobalt decoration in the form of a phrenology head. Vermont, 1847-1858. 5½”H. Perfect condition with no base chips or repairs. Making its appearance in 1796, phrenology was based on the peculiar notion that one’s character could be “scientifically” analyzed by feeling the bumps on one’s head. Bizarre as it may seem now, phrenology was taken quite seriously and throughout the majority of the 1800s legions of bump-gropers traveled and lectured and groped in England and America. Among the best-known was Frederick Bridges, an English phrenologist, whose name is faintly impressed within the cartouche on the front. The head is apparently his own design and rights to reproduce it were licensed to Christopher Webber Fenton and Bennington Pottery. Ref.: Barrett, 1978, plate 405.
$1,975
Pair of Diminutive 16th C. Brass Capstan Candlesticks
These are not only the earliest capstan sticks I’ve ever had, at 4” tall they’re also the smallest. Like all English candlesticks of the 16th C., they’re cast of heavy, soft brass, and these have file-cut square ejection apertures, incised rings on the mid-drip and foot and subtle dishing on the rim of the foot, an nice refinement. The stems are cross-peened on the underside and were soldered at some later date when they loosened from use. Ronald Michaelis on p. 62 of Old Domestic Base-Metal Candlesticks illustrates a virtually identical candlestick and on p. 63 shows another of similar proportions with the same sort of incised rings on the mid-drip and foot. English, ca. 1550-1580.
$2,200
18thC. Black Glass Onion Bottle
Good black glass onion bottle with wide bottom, very high kick, sloping shoulders, nice straws in the neck, open pontil, correct wear and very clean string rim beneath the slightly flared fire polished mouth. 7½”H and 5½” across the greatest diameter. No chips, minor hazing near the base, dense amber olive color with good luster to the glass. Never been underground. Ca. 1700-1725.
$295
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Mid-19th C. Painted Book Box
Ca. 1840-1860 pine book box with clamshell construction pivoting on hinges located on the spine, in original mustard and red paint. Marblized page edges and the spine is lettered in black “The Life of Kidd,” possibly referring to the infamous (and unjustly labeled) pirate William Kidd. Original brass hinges and box lock with key. Constructed to resemble books, these boxes were used in wealthier households to hold all sorts of things, but as often as not to secure paper currency and other valuables both from servants and intruders. Nina Fletcher Little devotes five pages of Neat and Tidy to their discussion and illustrates several, one of which is part of Winterthur Museum’s permanent collection. Period book boxes have become extremely rare and in this size and condition, virtually non-existent. 14”L x 8”W x 2½”H.
$1,875
19th C. Blue Fruit-Drying Bowl
American beech or basswood shallow fruit-drying bowl in original Rhode Island blue paint. Ca. 1840-1860 and probably turned on a mandrel lathe, it measures 9 5/8” with the grain and 9 3/8” across the grain from age shrinkage, by only 1 7/8” deep. Very light, finely turned with a thin rim and a crisply raised foot. Turning a bowl so fine called for more skill than turning a heavier milk or butter bowl and it’s remarkable that this one has survived without a crack or repair.
$975
Unusual 19th C. Marked
American Copper Mug
Heavy rolled copper with a seam of large brazed dovetails beneath the handle. Bottom was formed over a lag to receive the dovetailed and brazed bottom, which carries a collection catalogue mark in red ink. The ear-form strap handle is riveted and ends at the bottom in a heart shaped terminal. Vestiges of tinning remain on the interior. The mug is unusual not only for its size (7¼”H with a capacity of 40 oz), but because at the left of the handle, up under the rim, it carries an eagle touchmark flanked by the numbers 18 on the left and 55 on the right. Possibly the date, possibly a sealer’s mark. But American copper mugs marked in any fashion are extremely uncommon.
$1,250
Exceptional Early 19th C. Measure
Only the second American measure of this vintage I‘ve ever owned. The first was a gunpowder measure from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; this ultra rare piece is an American spirit measure. Constructed of heavy rolled copper without an inward taper toward the lip, the seams are dovetailed and brazed, the bottom is hammer formed and domed, the lips of both spout and measure are rolled over large gauge wire and it is signed with the initials “N.S.”, almost certainly those of an unidentified weights and measures sealer. 5”H. The tubular rolled, soldered and riveted handle is characteristic of earlier metal work and an identical handle appears on a Pennsylvania measure marked 1785, p. 127 of Henry Kauffman’s American Copper and Brass.
$1,500
Rare 19th C. Double Bullseye Oil Lamp
Pewter oil lamp by Roswell Gleason, Dorchester, MA, with double bullseye lenses, one marked “Patent,” neither chipped or cracked. 8” tall. Solder repair to tighten the base. Roswell Gleason, who began his career in 1821, was one of only a handful of pewterers who made lamps like this. He also made a lower cost single lensed version as well. Like primitive 18th C. water lamps, they were designed to cast a focused beam of light. Neither form is easy to find in any condition; double bullseye lamps are particularly rare. Excellent condition.
$1,950
18th C. Stepped Burl Bowl
Ca. 1780-1800 Northeastern ash burl bowl with unusual stepped sides and the remains of the original red wash. Strong figuring and excellent mellow color, Dry interior. Perfect. Related to plate 1/30 in American Burl Treen by Steve Powers. 9¾” x 3”.
$1,950
19th C. Pantry Box in Shaker Blue
Well, what would you call it? Not cobalt exactly…cerulean? How about Pacific blue? I call it Shaker blue, but whatever it is, it’s a neat, dense color, absolutely original, with stacking wear only to the edges of the top. The box is extremely tight with clipped corners on both top and bottom laps. 10 3/8”. This is a pantry box basically with no flaws.
$875
19th C. Pantry in Verdigris Green
Ca. 1850-1875 pantry box in a striking shade of verdigris green that matches almost perfectly the honest weathered surface of a really good 19th C. weathervane. 9½” with several helper nails with irregular heads and the painted initials “OH” on the bottom.
$775
Killer Mustard-Orange Pantry
A frankly superb 19th C. pantry box in a rich shade of mustard-orange that’s not on any color chart I’ve ever seen. Early pantries in lighter colors are among the most desirable and unfortunately the hardest to find. This one does have two nails missing from the base lap, but that’s all! 9”.
$625
The Best Red Pantry
Best-of-the-best 8¾” pantry box in flawless red paint. The box is early and perfect, with no splits, no missing pegs or nails, no apologies. The top band has clipped corners and the top itself has gorgeous jack plane marks. Ca. 1820-1840.
$950
19th C. Windsor Green Pantry
Beautiful, tight, 7¼”Windsor green pantry with consistently oxidized paint and no defects whatsoever. Ca. 1850-1870.
$525
Painted Indian Double Wall Basket
19th century New England Indian double wall basket in first red paint. 19" h x 10" w x 5" d. Wall baskets were often used in 19th century kitchens to hold dried herbs.
$895
Rare Tinned Iron Peg Lamp Chamberstick
Japanned tinned iron chambersticks aren’t uncommon, but footed chambersticks with this kind of provenance definitely are. This little stick was part of Wallace Nutting’s collection, donated to the Wadsworth Atheneum, and sold several years ago at Sothebys when the Atheneum underwent a major deaccession. The form, with curved feet and that intricately scrolled carry handle, is quite rare, which may be why Nutting chose to acquire it. Ca. 1830-1840 with blown whale oil peg lamp with drop-in burner.
$825
18th C. Bell Metal Peg Lamp
Seldom-seen bell metal or bronze saucer-based
push up candle stick with miniature wedding band-type turning and riveted carry ring. An uncommon feature is that the lift tab is peened inside the pushup and rotates freely. The gorgeous dark oxidized patina is untouched. This is a stick with a tube large enough in diameter to accept both candles and peg lamps, such as the fitted clear blown Sandwich glass font with whale oil burner. Flemish, probably 1790-1800. Peg lamp font is ca. 1830-1840.
$850
Signed Steel Hogscraper
Good whitesmithed ca. 1810-1830 hogscraper candlestick signed on the lift tab “Shaw Birm.” (Shaw was an 18th and early 19th C. maker of such sticks for the American market, working in Birmingham, England). 5½”H. Perfect for a sconce shelf.
$395
