Zettlemoyer Auction Co. held a 422-lot online-only sale through HiBid on behalf of Dick and Eleanor Shaner from Jan. 5 to 19. Prices reported include a 15-percent buyers premium. Dick Shaner passed away Jan. 10 at age 82. Shaner was a local historian in Kutztown, Pa. There was an era when if you had an interest in Berks County history, you spoke with Dick Machmer, Bob Ensminger, Lester Breininger, and Dick Shaner. All are now deceased. All of them were passionate that local history, preservation, culture, and decorative arts were important to society. Shaner graduated from Kutztown State College in 1960 and had a career teaching. Both of us taught in the Oley Valley School District, which is where we met, said wife Eleanor Shaner. We were married in 1970. Shaner was a contributor to the Pennsylvania Folklife Quarterly and also the Historical Review Magazine put out by the then Historical Society of Berks County. Involved with the Kutztown Folk Festival along with Dr. Alfred Shoemaker, Shaner founded the Lobachsville Folk Festival held at the Keim Homestead, which ran from 1972 to 79. His students were always enlisted to assist in the event. During this time period around the nations Bicentennial, interest in history and material culture was at an all-time high. It was a three-day event over Memorial Day weekend, and his students were a big part of it, said Eleanor. He had a rental agreement with the Keim Homestead. As a sidenote, Ive been saying for awhile, our nations 250th (Sestercentennial) in five years (2026) could serve as another catalyst for renewed vigor in Americana. In 1965, Dick bought and restored the Lochbachsville grist mill in Pike Township. Dick bought it from Clarence Yoders estate, who I remember as a child growing up on a nearby farm, stated Eleanor. Dick lived there from 1965 to 68. In 1968, he bought the Oley Forge property complex once owned by Colonial John Lesher, a quartermaster during the Revolution. It was in an abandoned state and at the time didnt even have windows. I was about to embark on grad school in Illinois and wondered if it would be in a livable state when I got back in a year, joked Eleanor. Eventually, we both wanted more land and purchased 17 acres in Rockland Township Dicks maternal ancesters lived in Rockland Township, and the area always interested him. He knew about a 2 1/2 story log home, ca. 1750, near Shartlesville earmarked to come down, so we salvaged it and moved it like Lincoln logs, said Eleanor. The couple were there from 1976 until 1995. Shaners first cerebral hemorrhage was in 1995, the year he retired from teaching. The same year, they moved to an historic large stone house on Main Street in Kutztown. The house had been divided into apartments and was built in three periods, the earliest being 1804, the main section in 1830, and the rear in 1880. Dick had a series of strokes in 2019 and moved to Kutztown Manor in 2020 for assisted living. I approached Woody Zettlemoyer last year about selling some things. Our things were divided up to two sales and a third sale will be just books, said Eleanor. Some of the things sold in this first sale were contemporary hand-done quilts, Seagreaves redware, Stahl redware, baskets, glassware, assorted antique accessories such as candlesticks, boxes, fireplace tools, prints, furniture, and some folk carvings. About 90 percent of the quilts, quilt tops and wall hangings were made by Richards mother, Esther Shaner of Allentown. She was a prolific quilter. What sold were about half of them, stated Eleanor. This first sale did well. There is plenty of interest and money out there for good contemporary folk art. The late Don Carpentier (Eastfield Village, N.Y.) was a scholar and craftsman known for his mochaware. A mug with cats eye decoration, 1996, sold for $172; one with earthworm decoration (1999), $184; and a bowl with earthworm decoration went for $230. A lot of plain but collectible Stahl pottery sold, such as candle holders, inkwells, small pitchers, and plates. The Shaners also collected the work of Jim and Verna Seagreaves. My in-laws lived in Allentown, and we used to stop to see Jim and Verna on the way home from seeing them. Dick visited with the Seagreaves often, stated Eleanor. James Christian Seagreaves (1913-97), Breinigsville, Pa., and wife, Verna Seagreaves (1913-2000), were married in 1941. Jim and Verna lived in Alburtis until moving to Breinigsville in 1961. In 1966 the couple joined the Reading-Berks Chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen. Verna was a music teacher in the Alburtis and East Penn School District, from which she retired. She was a folk painter whose work is gaining more and more of an audience today. An exhibition of her paintings was held at the then Historical Society of Berks County in 1999. An interior quilting scene (1990) sold for $632. An Adam and Eve scene (1996) realized $1,035. And a folk art landscape with a farmhouse and profuse floral and bird designwork (1992) sold for $661. Three more of Vernas painting will be sold in the second sale. Jim was exempted from the draft during World War II because his work at the Bethlehem Steel plant was considered essential to the war effort. Later, he was a machinist for Air Products and Chemicals Inc. prior to retiring in 1976. He specialized in press-molded pottery but also hand-molding and threw on a pedal wheel. His pottery is known for its brightly colored glaze treatments. He signed his work with his initials, JCS. His early work (late 50s, early 60s) was signed JS. The market is all over the place for his work but is regionally collected. A 10.75-inch charger with large sgraffito decorated bird sold for $172. A 10.5-inch charger with sgraffito decoration of a two-headed eagle sold for $195, and a pair of molded pottery seated cats marked VAS 1982 sold for $373. A molded long-necked swan figure sold for $460, and a small bird whistle figure sold for $138. A stoneware lidded jar with bird finial by Jeff Dietrich (Loghouse Pottery) sold for $126, and two carved wooden butter prints by Marshal Rumbaugh sold for $690. For additional information on this or the future sales, call Zettlemoyer Auction Co. in Fogelsville, Pa., at 610-395-8084.