Carl Snavely: Folk Carver Of Lititz
Much of Snavelys work was done with fine gouges and knives, exhibiting highly intricate detail. According to the Snavelys son, Jack, among his fathers first carvings was a gazelle, done circa 1945. The spread-wing eagle was his signature work and typically done with extremely fine detail. The eagle ranked among his favorite subjects to carve, also according to his son.
Snavely carved a variety of subjects, such as roosters, owls, goony birds, and squirrels. He also did relief-carved motifs inside large wooden bowls, such as distelfinks, tulips and hearts. Another type of work he did were small pin-back wooden carved brooches and carved soapstone jewelry.
Among the only published references to include Snavelys work is Richard and Rosemarie Machmers book Just for Nice, published 26 years ago. An accompanying exhibit for the book was done at the then Historical Society of Berks County.
In an interview on March 10, 1995, Carls wife, Florence Snavely (1912-2001), told Clarence Spohn that Carl did not paint his work; instead, he had fellow antiques dealer David Ellinger paint his carvings. Painter and dealer Ellinger (1913-2003) is largely remembered for his Pennsylvania-German stylizied artwork and painted on a very profilic scale. Early in his career, he was involved with the WPA. In the 1940s, he got to know Dr. Albert Barnes, who bought his work for his country house, Ker-Feal in Chester County, Pa.
I helped the Snavely family on two occasions prepare for a sale, and it was during the first sale, she (Florence) told me that Carl never painted his carvings and that he had David Ellinger paint them, said Spohn.
A noted collector who knew Carl and Florence was Dr. Robert Kline. I once traded a yellow spatter china rose pattern plate and a peafowl pattern blue border spatterware platter to Carl for two of his eagles, said Kline. The platter had come from a Parke-Bernet (now Sothebys) sale.
Snavelys work has a rather large, although regional collecting audience, and the market is strong for his work.
At the Richard and Rosmarie Machmer auction in 2008 through Pook & Pook, a pair of Schimmel-style paint-decorated roosters cataloged as both Carl Snavely and David Ellinger and initialed underneath DYE sold for $5,616. A small, 4.25-inch-high unpainted spread-wing eagle initialed CS sold for $488 at the same sale.
On June 12, 2010, at Conestoga Auction Company, a pair of unpainted spread-wing eagles signed CS measuring 6 inches tall and with 8-inch wingspans sold for a strong $4,520. A small unpainted CS rooster and hen sold together in the same sale for $2,034. A paint-decorated spread-wing CS eagle measuring 7 inchs tall with a 20-inch wingspan sold on Oct. 7, 2016, at Pook & Pook for $2,750.
Members of the Lititz Moravian congregation, Carl and Florence are buried in the Lititz Moravian Cemetery.