Summer Pleasures
Although we enjoy working around our country home, we sometimes take time off to enjoy something else. In the summer time I always keep my eyes open for a so-called “estate sale”. We are not talking about a high-level Sotheby's auction. What usually happens is that an old farmhouse is empty and near falling down and would cost an arm and a leg to repair and update.
It is sad, but the small mom and pop farms that covered the land all over our region, have been falling into disrepair and have largely gone out of business, victims of changing times. Most of them were settled and handed down in the family from the early to mid 1800’s. The rise of Big Agriculture in the mid 1900’s, made it harder and harder for the small family farms to stay profitable. Instead, the children built a new modern house nearby, went to college and fewer and fewer returned to the family homestead, choosing careers that didn’t demand such hard work and long days. So as the last of the small farmer generations have shuffled off this mortal coil, their rambling old houses, barns and outbuildings have spread their contents in the summer sun to be sold.- the children not really interested in the ‘old stuff’ they always played around in the dusty hay lofts. For many of us that appreciate history and quality craftsmanship, these homes or veritable treasure troves of antiquities, generational private museums spilling out their local and family histories!
Before the parent’s house will be demolished, the contents are emptied out, put on the front lawn and are for sale. Looking at all the items is a real treasure hunt.
A few years ago, we went to one of these estate sales and looked at items that were as old as 200 years. We found old scythes, still with the wooden handles, six foot long saws made to cut through lake ice to feed the large local ice market supplying ice to cities hundreds of miles away. Even I am told as far as the West Indies, before refrigeration was invented., Old tools and books published in the 18th and 19th centuries could be found in old crates.
It is always amazing for me what farmers bury in their old houses and barns. We found a beautiful oval blond oak table with six oak chairs. You cannot buy that kind of furniture today in a store. Usually, you will get pine with a veneer of oak. I honor old things because they tell a story.
A few years ago, we went to one of these estate sales and looked at items that were as old as 200 years. We found old scythes, still with the wooden handles, six foot long saws made to cut through lake ice to feed the large local ice market supplying ice to cities hundreds of miles away. Even I am told as far as the West Indies, before refrigeration was invented., Old tools and books published in the 18th and 19th centuries could be found in old crates.
It is always amazing for me what farmers bury in their old houses and barns. We found a beautiful oval blond oak table with six oak chairs. You cannot buy that kind of furniture today in a store. Usually, you will get pine with a veneer of oak. I honor old things because they tell a story.
At one of the auctions, one little cup with a saucer caught my eye. It was white and blue and showed a man drinking tea. Both the cup and the saucer were in perfect condition without any breaks. When I turned it around, I saw that it was marked 1755 Royal Bonn, Germany. I paid 50 cents for it and took my precious treasure home.
My heart skipped in anticipation! The date on the cup was 1755! Could this little teacup have survived unscathed from before the American Revolution, and how did it wind up in a barn in the mountains here? I knew that many of the local farmers were descendants of the Hessian troops that fought against Washington in the Revolution. Could this have come over with a Hessian officer and his family? I did my research and found out that my little cup was indeed produced in Bonn, Germany- which has a long history of porcelain wares, but was made in 1860, by a small porcelain manufacturing company. The company was bought after WWI by Villeroy and Boch and eventually closed.
My heart skipped in anticipation! The date on the cup was 1755! Could this little teacup have survived unscathed from before the American Revolution, and how did it wind up in a barn in the mountains here? I knew that many of the local farmers were descendants of the Hessian troops that fought against Washington in the Revolution. Could this have come over with a Hessian officer and his family? I did my research and found out that my little cup was indeed produced in Bonn, Germany- which has a long history of porcelain wares, but was made in 1860, by a small porcelain manufacturing company. The company was bought after WWI by Villeroy and Boch and eventually closed.
I eventually was in contact with the museum in Bonn that was devoted to the famous wares of the region’s porcelain makers. They were excited to inform me that my cup was the cheap version meant for daily use, and nowadays it was more valuable, as they did not survive the rigors of daily use. The more expensive version was glazed and used to be displayed in a cabinet behind glass.. Not only did it survive for 130 years without a scratch, but they cannot be found anymore. The museum was so excited because they never had found one still existing to add to their display.
We eventually donated the cup and saucer to the museum in Bonn, where it had been manufactured. I am wondering how and with whom the cup made the trip over the Atlantic to the USA and ended up in a country auction. Unfortunately, the children of the owners only knew it had been in the family for ‘forever’ and that they were German descendants, but not more.
Eventually, we brought it back to its native country and it is now displayed in the museum, so many people can enjoy it. It has been a 130 year circular journey, which has been very satisfying indeed..
Eventually, we brought it back to its native country and it is now displayed in the museum, so many people can enjoy it. It has been a 130 year circular journey, which has been very satisfying indeed..
