Carl Snavely: Folk Carver Of Lititz

March 9, 2017

Carl D. Snavely (1915-83) was a talented woodcarver from Lititz, Pa., and went by the nickname “Stump.” By profession, Snavely was a shipping clerk at the Badorf Shoe Company. Founded in 1928, today the company is no longer in Lititz, and operates in Manheim. Snavely and his wife, Florence, were also active in the antiques business and set up at local shows. The couple lived on Willow Street near the Linden Hall school and had two children: a son, Jack, and daughter, Caroll. The talented carver was active with the Lancaster County Wood Carvers, a group which remains active today.
Much of Snavely’s work was done with fine gouges and knives, exhibiting highly intricate detail. According to the Snavelys’ son, Jack, among his father’s 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 Snavely’s work is Richard and Rosemarie Machmer’s 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, Carl’s 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 Sotheby’s) sale.
Snavely’s 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.






 

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