Conestoga Auction Company of Manheim, Pa., held their fourth on-site sale at Taylor Mansion, the residence of Barbara and the late Lester Breininger on April 4 and 5. Located in the Berks County town of Robesonia, Pa., the 20 room house had long been filled to capacity with one of the largest regional Pennsylvania German collections of art, antiques, and artifacts ever assembled.
The bulk of the collection had origins in Berks County. The once prolific buyer, Lester, who died at the age of 76 in 2011, was a local historian and former school teacher. He was the patriach of the Breininger pottery business and amassed the vast assemblege over many decades. Not one to miss a good farm sale, he collected anything and everything local to the region, noteably redware pottery.
On Nov. 11 and 12 of 2011, Pook & Pook, Inc. of Downingtown, Pa., held a 940-lot sale grossing over $2.1 million for the family. Many lots had multiple items. There were well in excess of 1,000 items sold at the two-day sale. Roughly another 1,500 lots of material were sold at the first four on-site sales and it is estimated there will likely be 4 or 5 more sales to come. All together, the collection, including contemporary Breininger pottery, likely totaled at least 5,000 items.
A ninth-generation Pennsylvania German, Lester was active in historical preservation and in preserving traditional crafts.
For 42 years, the family gathered every August for their famous “Porch Show,” where that year’s production of Breininger pottery made by the potter’s he employed was sold. The final “Porch Show” was held in 2011.
This two-day spring sale began with a Friday afternoon session at 4 p.m. consisting of 225 to 300 lots of paper/ephemera, including Lester’s vast local postcard collection, assorted printed taufshein, and antique reference books. Saturday’s sale began at 9 a.m.
Jeff DeHart of Conestoga Auction Co. had a heated tent put up. Unseasonably low temperatures and wind affected the area. No buyer’s premium or sales tax was charged.
The session included various general store items, advertising material, milk bottles, glassware, tinware, paintings and prints, tin toys, baskets, patriotic items, Easter material, and a wide selection of Breininger pottery of various dates. Box lots were sold first, and a small selection of furniture on the porch and in the house was sold at noon.
Given the time of year, a large number of German egg shape candy containers were sold. A large example in mint condition sold for $300. A pair of paper mache rabbit candy containers sold for $65 to the trade. Chalk ware rabbits were sold as well as numerous baskets of eggs. Some of the egg baskets were of Breininger redware eggs. Groups of 10-12 eggs per basket sold for $110 to $250.
Among the notable items sold at the two-day sale were a period redware molded half ear of corn, which sold for $1,450; a Willoughby Smith slip-decorated redware plate, which sold for $2,200; and a hand-drawn fraktur with birds and tulips dated “1801,” which sold for $3,900. The two later items sold to Marietta, Pa., dealers Oliver Overlander II and Harry Hartman. Potter Willoughby Smith (1839-1905) worked a short distance down the road from the sale site in Wormelsdorf. A rye straw bee skep sold for $650, a large wrought iron fork, $1,500; a cast iron painted standing rabbit doorstop, $225 to the trade; and an early watch hutch with tombstone arched door with watch and gold fob sold for $1,900.
A miniature Peter Derr (1793-1868) stamped brass scoop sold for $1,700, and a small Derr weight with lead filling went for $525. A kettle lamp made in 1969 by Charlie Rittle (1920-2008) of Myerstown, Pa., sold for $70. Lester often invited skilled local artistans to exhibit at the annual “Porch Show,” and Rittle exhibited at the very first.
“The next sale will be Saturday, Sept. 27,” said DeHart.
For additional information, visit www.conestogaauction.com.