The Garvan Family collection of Presidential Indian Peace medals, along with the George Washington medal from a U.K. collection, tell the story of westward expansion and European and Native American relations. Diplomatic gifts, Indian peace medals were intended to promote…
Elizabeth Fisher Washington, born in Siegfried’s Bridge, Northampton County. She first studied at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art, and then at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Hugh Breckenridge and Fred Wagner. She was a successful…
Margaret Berwind Schiffer was a scholar, collector, and an authority on the material culture of early Chester County, Pennsylvania. Researching local records such as wills, inventories, and ledgers, she collected data about early residents, craftsmen, domestic life and home furnishing.…
The Collection of F.R. “Bud” Lear III is an exceptional lifetime assemblage of copper-alloy candlesticks manufactured before 1700, which illustrates the history of development of socket candlesticks and the relationships between different forms across Europe. The Collection is composed of…
On October 6th, Pook & Pook will auction Chinese botanical watercolors from the Estate of Peter Tillou. Three pairs of watercolors, lots #344, 345, and 346, attributed to Win Achun and other artists, have provenance from Peter Tillou, “According to…
Kusama Affandi (1907-1990), the father of Indonesian modern painting, was the first Southeast Asian artist to gain worldwide recognition. From his sponsorship of organizations for young artists to the inspiration of his self-taught expressionism, he helped raise future generations of…
Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk (1567-1607) was an explorer. Before he captured the treasure ship Santa Caterina in the Straits of Malacca, and died defeating the Spanish fleet off Gibraltar, he was already a hero of an epic book, Nova Zembla.…
Why do we all love blue and white china? Perhaps because it is hard-wired into our system. Across history and continents, the love of blue and white Chinese porcelain has launched ships and industries. For a thousand years, China…
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Delftware was the most common type of ceramic export to the American colonies, the wide range of products doing everything from adorning elegant tables and displaying flowers to serving utilitarian purposes in apothecary shops…
Pewter is undoubtedly the crown jewel in the Herr collection. Auctioneer and appraiser James Pook discusses a highly important Lancaster, Pennsylvania pewter flagon, ca. 1770, bearing the touch of Johann Christoph Heyne (Germany, Lancaster 1715-1781), 11 1/4″ h. James explains,…
Among his favorite items in the sale, owner Ron Pook selects an important John Palm Boyer (1833-1901), Brickerville, Lancaster County, painted pine seed chest, ca. 1860, retaining its original faux grain decoration, the case with a fall front lid over…
Owner Debra Pook explains what distinguishes an important Chester County, Pennsylvania needlework grouping of sewing articles. Made by Hannah Darlington, ca. 1785, each piece bearing the maker’s name or initials, included are a rollup sampler pinball dated 1785, initialed HD,…
Auctioneer and appraiser Jamie Shearer highlights a Philadelphia silk on silk pictorial embroidery by Ann Marsh, ca. 1730, with a vibrant urn of flowers with insect and bird, all resting on a rolling lawn with sheep and a running dog,…
Pook & Pook is honored to present the Pennsylvania German Folk Art Collection of Drs. Donald and Patricia Herr on Thursday and Friday, June 9th & 10th. Descended from Hans Herr (1639-1725), the first Mennonite bishop to immigrate to America,…
This little painting is quite special. The mother, in a black dress with fancy lace collar and cap, is seated. One arm and the curve of her body envelop a small, intelligent-looking child at the bottom of the frame. The…
When the Spartan army took home the horses of Xerxes as spoils of war in 479 BCE, after the battle of Plataea, it began a movement of eastern horses to Europe that was to last throughout the period of classical…