Dr. George and Connie Manger were major collectors in the 1990s and 2000s in Hagerstown, Md. John Newcomer wrote an article on the Manger collection for the Magazine Antiques in May 1999, and the couple held a pottery exhibit at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in 2003 and 2008. Brunk Auctions of Asheville, N.C., sold a 138-lot grouping of their collection on June 24. Connie Manger passed away in 2025. In a significant assembly of fine early American decorative arts, key items were a Federal painted worktable; a Newport, R.I., Chippendale drop leaf table attributed to John Townsend; a matching Massachusetts Queen Anne high chest and dressing table; a pair of labeled 1803 Federal eglomise mirrors; a group/nest of signed Nantucket baskets; and important pottery by John Bell, Henry Adam, Anthony Bacher, and others. High end fine jewelry was also sold. Much of the pottery was illustrated in Pottery From the Shenandoah and Cumberland Valleys: Selections from the Manger Collection by Dr. George and Connie Manger. The prior mentioned Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is in Hagerstown, Md. The 2008 exhibit was titled The Bell Family Pottery. Additionally, some of their pottery was shown at the Renfrew Museum and Park in Waynesboro, Pa., in 1995. The Renfrew is a gem, and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is also well worth the visit. Auction houses usually dont include receipts of what the consignor paid. Serving as a transparent tool for price histories, it outlined that the grouping was formed under different market conditions versus today. Its a way to advertise that the material was formed during an era when more wealthy people were active in the field. Even passive market watchers realize a lot has changed in the last 20 years. The Mangers bought extremely fine early high style antiques from dealers, including the late Wayne Pratt and the late Israel Sack, at the upper echelon of the retail market. I find it interesting to see such material sell outside of New York City, and Brunk has a long track record of excelling. Brunk is a highly capable and popular regional firm in the booming tourist town of Asheville. Owner and auctioneer Andrew Brunk worked at Christies in the early 2000s and is an expert in early American decorative arts. The Manger sale grossed $1,912,500 (including a 25 percent buyers premium) and had a 98 percent sell through rate. A few newsworthy results included a rare nest of seven Nantucket lightship baskets signed Captain James Wyer, 1873, selling to a phone bidder for $57,500. They previously sold at a Rafael Osona auction on Nantucket in 1996 for $55,000. The Mangers had Wayne Pratt bid on their behalf. He charged 10 percent as outlined on the invoice, bringing the total to $60,500. Captain James Wyer (1816-1899) started his maritime career as a cooper aboard the ship Nantucket and eventually served as master of the whale ship Spartan. After the death of his wife in 1860, he moved to California, where he worked as a carpenter for several years. He later returned to Nantucket and married Lois Starbuck in 1866, becoming stepfather to her two children, Mary Eliza and Henry Pease. It is around this time that he is believed to have started making lightship baskets, which he continued to do through the 1890s. Mary Eliza writes about her stepfather making lightship baskets in her book My House and I. He is widely regarded as a premier Nantucket craftsperson and one of the earliest makers of lightship baskets. They represent a unique regional craft associated with the affluent Massachusetts island. Another ex. Pratt lot was a group of three graduated and nesting folk art paint-decorated dome-top wooden boxes, ca. 1835, attributed to Worcester, Mass., bringing $13,750. The Mangers paid $14,000 in 1991. From Pennsylvania came a dated 1782, possibly Lancaster County, architectural paint decorated lift-top chest with three front panels of tulips and urns, accompanied by a receipt from dealer Greg Kramer from 2004 for $90,000. It sold for $27,500. The important Federal painted mahogany and maple work table was attributed to the shop of John and Thomas Seymour, with paint decoration attributed to John Ritto Penniman, Boston, Mass., ca. 1800-10. With gilt embossed red morocco divided lower drawer, painted and stenciled decoration, side-hung silk workbag with birdseye maple frame, and a fully finished back with painted seashells, it sold for $400,000. A lengthy illustration history includes the well-known American Painted Furniture by Dean A. Fales, (Penguin, 1979), and provenance included Israel Sack, Inc. It sold at Christies in 2005 for $262,400. A very rare pair of Federal eglomise mirrors achieved $287,500. One panel was inscribed on back Painted by John Ritto Penniman, Boston, 1803 and one had a label reading JOHN DOGGETT, GILDER, Looking-Glass and Picture Framer Roxbury-Street. The Mangers bought them from Israel Sack in 1993 for $120,000. A pair of Philadelphia Chippendale walnut side chairs, ca. 1770, carved shell, volutes and interwoven strapwork and heart pierced splat, acanthus carved knees, boldly carved ball and claw feet, sold for $106,250. Published in Albert Sacks Fine Points of Furniture: Early American, 1950, pg. 39, and Israel Sacks American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, vol. III, pg. 672, no. P2864, the pair was $280,000 from Wayne Pratt in 2002. Selling for $81,250 was a rare Chippendale mahogany armchair, New York or possibly Boston, ca. 1760, with eagle carved arm terminals. The late Israel Sack sold it to the Mangers in 1994 for $83,000. Possibly the only one in existence, a miniature framed profile view portrait of John Bell (1800-80), inscribed on back John Bell, Drawn in 1823, is a watercolor on paper with painted eglomise on glass. Thought to be the only extant portrait of John Bell, this portrait was exhibited at the By, For, and Of the People: Folk Art and Americana at the DAR Museum in Washington, D.C., in 2011 and 2012. John Bell was a patriarch of the Bell family of potters. The portrait realized $8,750. An ovoid glazed redware jar, Pennsylvania or Maryland origin, ca. 1840-80, with manganese, copper, and cream slip decorations and unusual applied manganese slip five building town scene with eight applied copper slip pine trees, brought $12,500. It went for $9,350 on April 3, 2004, at Conestoga Auction Companys Eugene and Dorothy Elgin sale, and was illustrated in Jeannette Lasanskys Central Pennsylvania Redware Pottery 1780-1904 pg. 40 published in 1979. Realizing $40,000 was a large and exceptional glazed redware figural standing dog attributed to the John Bell Pottery, ca. 1860-90, manganese and engobe glaze, with highly incised upper body and head; articulated fur; sculpted snout and nose; incised eyes; sculpted basket in mouth containing a jug, mug, and bread rolls; manganese slip to ears, tail, and body; profusely decorated with impressed floral heads around base edge; and large impressed floral motif centrally located on base was ex. Lester Breininger and ex. John Newcomer. It measured 9.5 by 10 inches and was included in Gene Comstocks The Pottery of The Shenandoah Valley Region pg. 456 where he writes this particular earthenware dog is one of the most intricately decorated of all the known attributed examples of Bell-modeled ware from either Waynesboro or Strasburg, although similar decoration appeared in different configurations on much of the Waynesboro and Strasburg Bell products. The dog was exhibited in both of the exhibits at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, in 2003 and in 2008. Black light illumination (images in the online catalog) show restoration to basket handles, jug, and around all four paws on base due to adhesive. Selling as a pair, two Snow Hill Nunnery, John Bell, Waynesboro, Pa., (attributed) decorated redware bowls with centrally applied slip eight point stars brought $10,000. The Snow Hill Nunnery in Quincy, Franklin County, Pa., was a 19th-century off-shoot communal society related to the Ephrata Cloister. In 1997, Horst Auction Center in Ephrata, Pa., sold the contents of Snow Hill. Among featured items were around 40 of these redware bowls (the group totaled $345,000). Believed to have been used for love feast ceremonies, the bowls are considered iconic pieces of American folk pottery. For further information, visit www.brunkauctions.com.