Linda And Dennis Moyer Estate Sale

Simmons Bird Tree Sets New Record, Selling For $103,700, And Drissel Slide-Lid Box Brings $137,500

August 7, 2020

Downingtown, Pa., auction house Pook & Pook Inc. sold the estate collection of Linda and Dennis Moyer on July 10 and 11. The Moyers of Zionsville, Lehigh County, Pa., amassed a collection of Pennsylvania German decorative arts largely through farm sales over the decades in and around the Lehigh Valley. Collecting this way is a method that has long since ended and an era not returning. The material has dried up as the old farmsteads have had their contents dispersed over the generations. Very few large groupings of this level of material, having been put together through hundreds of on-site country sales and private purchases, remain in private hands.
The two-day sale grossed $1,382,590, including a 22-percent buyer’s premium, 25-percent for online bidding. There were 104 phone bidders, 132 live and absentee bidders, 916 on Bidsquare, and 755 on Invaluable.
A lot of the Moyer collection was also sold through Pook & Pook’s online-only sales earlier in the year. Auctioneer Greg Somers of Coopersburg, Pa., is also handling part of the estate.
Tremendous anticipation and hunger was evident for this auction. The pool of buyers may be smaller than it was 20 or 25 years ago, but upper end quality Pennsylvania country antiques are very much in fashion in today’s marketplace. “You can say fewer buyers are there, but it’s encouraging to see people have no trouble spending and stepping up,” remarked Jamie Shearer of Pook & Pook following the sale.
A new auction record was achieved for the Simmons bird tree selling as the first lot in session one, going to a Pennsylvania private collector in the salesroom for $103,700. It was underbid by the trade bidding by phone. Standing 20.5 inches tall with eight birds (one lower branch with bird broken and deattached), it was purchased privately by Moyer in the 1960s, having descended in the family of Amos Kline.
Well-heeled folk art collectors realize these bird trees are rare, do not come around often, and that it could be many years until they see another. The previous record was from Christie’s on Sept. 29, 2010, when a Simmons bird tree sold for $84,100 (Guennol Collection). It was 24 inches tall consisting of 10 birds, and according to more than one student of Pennsylvania German folk art is the best known example in existance. Another top tier example sold for $76,050 on Oct. 24, 2008, at Pook & Pook’s sale of the Dick and Rosemarie Machmer estate. It stands at 19.25 inches tall, with nine birds, and has the initials “M.H” on base.
“Schtockschnitzler” Simmons was an immigrant carver working at the turn of the 20th century, ca. 1885-1910, in the Moselem Springs area between Leesport and Kutztown in Berks County.
Also in session one, which began at 6 p.m. following a reception, an early, cataloged as Moravian Brettstuhl splay leg chair with pierced back sold to dealer Philip Bradley in the salesroom for $6,100. It had 44 bids on Bidsquare and held a $300-$500 estimate. One lot consisting of two bird carvings brought $875. There were two small wooden birds flanking a slightly larger one, all spotted; the other was a dove-like wooden carving, not cataloged with an attribution, yet likely by Nathan Ruppert, ca. 1920, of Topton, Pa., (Berks/Lehigh County border).
The stunner on day one was a very fine John Drissel (Bucks County, Pa. 1762-1846), painted pine slide lid box, which went for a new record, $137,500. Inscribed on lid, “Zum gruck Ann von Red John Drissel his hand 1796,” retaining its original decorated surface with flowers and ivory wavy bands on a vibrant salmon ground, measuring 2.75 inches high, 4 3/8 inches wide, and 7 5/8 inches long, it was purchased by an advanced Philadephia area collector, underbid by a collector. Anna Von Red (Anna Roth) was born Nov. 17, 1793, as listed in the “New Goschenhoppen Register,” page 343. The box was exhibited at a Winterthur study and workshop in 2008. The Moyers bought it at auction in Lower Milford Township. Another slide-lid Drissel box sold for $83,780 to Philip Bradley on Aug. 4, 2012, at the Rick and Terry Ciccotelli sale held by Northeast Auctions. That box was once owned by Dick and Rosemarie Machmer. It brought $49,140 on Oct. 25, 2008, at Pook & Pook.
Many readers of this paper will remember the larger example from the Ruth Bryson estate sale (May 4, 2018, Vol. 49, No. 18). That Drissel slide-lid box (Peter Nehs) belonging to Dorothy and Eugene Elgin sold for $82,500 on April 3, 2004, at Conestoga to Bryson, and brought $18,750 on April 14, 2008, at her estate sale. To say any market is void of fluctuation or not thin at the top wouldn’t be an accurate assessment. There are but a small handful of active players on this level at any one time. Sometimes wealthy buyers enter the market for a short period of time in order to furnish or decorate a property. Others take on the hobby as a lifetime pursuit. The point being, many sectors of the market are propped up by a select few.
Pook & Pook made a wise move eliminating its $500 minimum starting phone bid for this sale, so people who did not feel comfortable attending the sale or bidding online could participate on lower price point lots.
The Moyers loved folk art carved wooden canes. One attributed to “Bally Carver” illustrated in “Just For Nice” with a bearded man and vines on the hand grip brought $976. It sold for $556 at the Machmer sale in 2008. One attributed to Simmons with a dog head on the hand grip, also included in the 1991 book “Just For Nice,” sold for $1,250. Another with dog head on handle sold for $793.
An apothecary cupboard with three upper shelves above 16 drawers all in a period blue that has turned greenish was among Dennis Moyer’s favorite pieces of furniture. It once came out of the Forgedale Store in Washington Township, Berks County, Pa., and sold for $11,590 to a couple in the back of the salesroom.
Piles of homespun fabric, small groups of butter prints, and excellent quilts and coverlets sold. If categories within the textile market are currently soft, some areas exhibited promise. I’m sure losses occured with some of the homespun and coverlets, but were made up for with just the bird tree and slide-lid box. Collections are a sum of the total.
A rare child’s size jacquard coverlet (fringe loss) sold for $1,000, and a New England linsey woolsey quilt brought $4,880. A very fine blue and white pieced quilt with star and diamond center panel, Pa. origin, stamped “Susannah D. Shafer on reverse, sold for $7,500. The Schwenkfelder friendship quilt, signed “Rebecca Reitenauer 1859,” pictured in “Lest I Shall Be Forgotten,” pages 20 and 94, exhibited in 1994 in Tokyo, Japan, purchased at auction in Hereford, Berks County, in the late 1960s, sold for $10,980. It will be quite some time until another grouping of such fine, primarily Pennsylvania quilts are sold.
A six-inch-diamater octagonal Pearlware plate with eagle decoration in rare yellow border (emphasis on the yellow border) brought $6,000. Twelve Pennsylvania dyed and scratch decorated period chicken eggs, many initialed and dated, sold as one lot going for $17,080. Such lot groupings can scare off some collectors and can be seen as geared for dealers, yet, a collector bought this group of eggs. I doubt they would have brought more if sold individually.
One odd ball result (there were several) was a lot of 10 Pennsylvania fabric birds selling for a strong $21,960. They went to a buyer in the Midwest. Such birds are near impossible to age, many being early to mid-20th century. The underbidder clearly did not wish to quit either.
Some fine fraktur sold in what was really a fun sale for people who love Pennsylvania stuff. The fraktur market appears to be on solid legs. A very rare David Kriebel (active 1787-1848) Schwenkfelder ink and watercolor fraktur reward of merit sold to a Philadelphia collector for $13,420. For reference see Dennis Moyer’s “Fraktur Writings and Folk Art Drawings.” A Northampton County “Man in the Moon” decoration fraktur taufshein with green and yellow birds and floral work sold for $18,300; and a Bucks County reward of merit of a bird with tulips sold for $7,320.
Another highlight was a Pennsylvania paint-decorated watch hutch with floral border on a darkened yellow ground, selling nearly double high estimate for $11,590.
For additional information and a complete online catalog with prices realized, visit www.pookandpook.com.

 

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