Living with antiques: a folk art collection in Pennsylvania

Magazine Antiques, Oct, 1994 by Jean M. Burks

Over the last fifteen years a Pennsylvania couple have been acquiring American artifacts that reflect the conscious simplicity of the Shakers and the unconscious naivete of folk art paintings, quilts, cast-iron toy banks, and fire-related equipment. Their journey into American antiques began when, as a young couple, they lived with makeshift furniture--a trestle table made from a door, for example. When these objects fell apart, they began to appreciate the long-term value of craftsmanship. As a result, while on a New England vacation they bought six Shaker chairs and a narrow, nine-foot-long laundry table with a "yellow scrubbed top and a surface so worn down that you couldn't set a glass on it." Nonetheless, it was Shaker and became their dining table.

This first purchase led to major acquisitions of Shaker furniture, stacks of oval boxes, sewing accouterments, poplar boxes, and doll-sized cloaks and bonnets. The only areas they consciously avoided, until recently, were textiles and black-ash baskets, since it is difficult to authenticate them as Shaker. Each potential addition stimulates a lively and informed discussion since the wife is attracted to small objects with their original finish that "scream Shaker," as she put it, while her husband gravitates toward large, well-designed objects that exhibit superb craftsmanship.

Together they have developed criteria for evaluating the furniture that is the basis of their distinguished Shaker collection. The presence of the original surface is their primary consideration. Their finest example is the robust tripod candlestand shown in Plate V, attributed to the cabinetmaker Samuel Humphrey Turner (1775-1842) of New Lebanon (called Mount Lebanon after 1862), New York. The stamp underneath the top suggests that it was made in 1837 for Eldress Ruth Landon (1776-1850) and her assistant, Sister Aseneth Clark (1780-1857), also of New Lebanon.

The second most important feature of Shaker furniture for the collectors is vibrant color. The husband's favorite piece of furniture in this regard is a chrome-yellow washstand of about 1840 from Enfield, New Hampshire, which was covered with gray paint when it was purchased.

Finally, they look for balanced proportions, exemplified by the New Lebanon blanket chest of about 1840 shown at the fight in Plate V. In this case the two bottom drawers occupy exactly one quarter and one half of the front of the chest. The oval ivory escutcheons and the deep reddish finish refute the myth that the Shakers were drab. Although history of ownership is low on these collectors' list, it can provide valuable information. The cupboard over drawers of about 1830 from the sisters' room at New Lebanon was bought directly from the community by a pioneer Shaker collector. At the bottom is a hinged flap that, according to oral history, concealed a hole in the floor into which the day's selvage was swept, failing into a bin in the basement below.

In terms of design, the collectors like the verticality of chairs and case pieces, such as a tall chest of drawers of about 1840 from New Lebanon, and an armless rocking chair of about 1840 from the Shaker community in Harvard, Massachusetts. Another favorite is the conscious symmetry of a six-drawer tailoring counter of 1825 from New Lebanon. Made by Benjamin Lyon (1780-1870), it is remarkable also for its pumpkin-orange paint.

The couple also take pleasure in acquiring unique Shaker objects such as a double washstand of about 1840 from New Lebanon.

The collectors have spent years studying, traveling, and training their eye to recognize the best of Shaker style. To validate age and construction, they methodically search for dirt in cracks, measure holes to make sure they are not perfectly round, and verify that screws are not modern. They use black light to identify marks, magnets to locate iron nails, and even submit objects to X-ray examination. This method led to the discovery of the distinctive metal reinforcing rods found exclusively in the slender necks of the pommels of Enfield, New Hampshire, rocking chairs. The rods were inserted by the Shakers themselves to compensate for a flaw in the design.

The collection has evolved through three distinct stages. In the beginning the couple bought functional objects with which they and their three children could easily live. As they said, "if the children run a big wheel into a ball-and-claw foot it is not easily restored, but you can apply a little water to a dented pine leg and it will recover by the next day." In the second phase, objects just "metastasized" throughout the house. Now in the third phase, the collection is assuming an identity, a momentum, and a life of its own; even requiring modifications to the house itself. The placement of a ten-foot-long Enfield, New Hampshire, meeting-house bench required the walling up of an existing door. The family is planning to design a barnlike extension to the house in which to keep the objects that are now stored elsewhere, as well as new acquisitions.