New England Winter of Days Past

4/16/18 – When this week’s pick gets posted, all of the dust will have settled from the highly anticipated Ruth Bryson Auction. I am sure that there will be a few eyebrows raised at some of the results, perhaps more than a few. After all, great things continue to bring great results. Speaking of great, my pick this week is lot number 1450, the sheet copper ice skate weathervane. We have seen eagles, deer, cows, and even a lobster represented in weathervanes, but how about an ice skate? What a great form with an even greater gilt surface. This one was purportedly found in Hardwick, Vermont on the roof of a workshop of a gentleman who sharpened and made ice skates. I can clearly picture a spectacled older gentleman wearing a work apron while a group of young kids assembled out front  to wait on a pair of skates to be sharpened, eager to get on the way to Hardwick Lake to spend the day in the chilly winter air. I can imagine the kids adorned in homemade scarves and gloves, running along with a brass skater’s lantern, as a dog in tow bounces along behind them nipping at their heels. Winter in a small New England town! What an iconic image of old time days gone by.

by: Jamie Shearer