Dave Rowe of Rowes Auction Service in Carlisle, Pa., holds regular sales every Thursday. He had an antique sale on July 17 from various estates and downsizing collections in Carlisle, Mechanicsburg, and Boiling Springs. The sale consisted of antique advertising, stoneware, pressed glass, transferware china, baskets, lighting, toys, quilts and much more. The two stars were a pair of watercolor portraits attributed to Jacob Maentel. Jacob Maentel (1763-1863) was an untrained portrait watercolor artist, German-born, having immigrated in 1806. He served in the Second Regiment of the Second Brigade of the Pennsylvania militia during the War of 1812 and following became a naturalized citizen. He painted watercolor portraits of officers in his regiment and their families. He and his wife, Catherine Weaver, lived for years in southeastern Pennsylvania where he did commission portraiture, and many of his subjects were Pennsylvania Germans. The style was often profile view with interior and exterior scenes. Unsigned, the people and background scenes he painted have distinctive appearances making attribution possible for the semi-unfamiliar eye. Many subjects lived in the Annville, Jonestown, Schaefferstown, and Manheim areas, and Maentel also spent time on the west shore of the Susquehanna in Shiresmantown and Mechanicsburg. He and his family later moved to Indiana. As early as the 1960s, Maentel portraits have had a collector following in folk art circles, and the work is often very valuable. The man and woman portraits sold were right out of the family according to Rowe and had been owned by an elderly consignor for decades. Removed from Victorian-era frames, each subject with formal attire was identified on back, Sarah Miesse painted 1829 or 30 and Abram Miesse painted 1829 or 30. The couple had a son, Franklin. The condition on Abrams portrait was excellent, while Sarahs had old crease lines from folding. The rare fresh-to-the-market watercolors sold as a pair for $26,000 to collector Dr. Jim Bohn. For more information, call Rowes at 717-249-2677.