Key Esherick Pieces to Stay in Rose Valley
Members of the board of the Rose Valley Museum at Thunderbird Lodge watched as items crafted by Wharton Esherick were auctioned by Freeman’s. The museum purchased two hammer handle chairs and the staircase from Hedgerow Theatre. Photo: Leslie Krowchenko
“Fair warning: going once, going twice, third time . . . sold.”
The Rose Valley Museum at Thunderbird Lodge was on both sides of the gavel last month, hosting one auction to raise funds to purchase pieces by renowned American artist and furniture maker Wharton Esherick, then using those funds to bid on his works at another. The museum procured two hammer handle chairs and the staircase from Hedgerow Theatre. These pieces will supplement the Esherick picnic table already bought from the theater to launch the museum’s Esherick display.
“This was a big, big lift for the museum and the community, but the results were awesome,” said museum curator Ryan Berley.
The sell side was conducted October 25, when the museum hosted a curated in-person and online auction of Arts and Crafts antiques and fine art from the turn of the 20th century. Joseph Laskowski of Brandywine Valley Auctions, partnering with Live Auctioneers.com, presented 180 lots of furniture, decorative art, and artwork (photographs and prints). Local bidders, seated outdoors in compliance with regulations from the Centers for Disease Control, braved a chilly-to-the-bone afternoon to compete against buyers on the Internet.
“We raised approximately $15,000,” said Berley. “People really got into the spirit of the event — there was a lot of internet bidding and about 20% of the lots were purchased by people in person.”
Borough resident Gail Hale, one of the on-site bidders, bought a Karlsbad Jugendstil porcelain flower bowl. Her hopes of stimulating competitive bidding to raise reserves for the museum were successful. “It will look lovely on our dining room table with flowers from my garden,” she said.
On October 29, a separate auction was held by Freeman’s of Philadelphia. Among the items for sale were major Esherick pieces owned by Rose Valley’s Hedgerow Theatre. Hedgerow had decided to sell two tables, eight hammer handle chairs, and a spiral staircase, to create an endowment and support building improvements.
The museum raised approximately $115,000 for its Keep Wharton Esherick in Rose Valley Fund, $50,000 of which was spent before the auction to acquire the picnic table used by the actors-in-residence living at Hedgerow House. The museum entered the Freeman’s auction with approximately $65,000 burning a hole in its pocket to bid on additional items crafted for the theater in the 1930s.
The chairs represented five different designs and the museum purchased two distinct models, for $8,000 and $11,000. The two tables — the original Esherick family kitchen table, and one named for the 1929 production of “Thunder on the Left” in which the Esherick children appeared — sold to different buyers for $19,000 and $150,000, respectively.
The staircase had been estimated to go for $20,000-$30,000, but a bidding war with a potential internet buyer more than doubled the price. The museum secured the staircase with a winning bid of $65,000.
“I made the executive decision to forge ahead” with the bidding, said Berley. “As a result, we saved the staircase from being removed to a private home, far away from Rose Valley.”
In typical Rose Valley fashion, Berley and the board celebrated the purchases with a champagne toast. While the museum spent more than it anticipated, the board is confident it was not more than they could afford. Fundraising will continue, and the museum hopes to purchase additional Esherick pieces that may become available in the future.
“We now have the makings of a legitimate Esherick Gallery on the third floor of Thunderbird Lodge, where the staircase will be restored and installed,” Berley said.
More information about the furniture and the fundraising effort
