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from Antiques & Auction News - May 27, 2022

This Week: Silver Is A Great Deal

By Peter Seibert

Over the last few months, I have watched prices for antique silver slowly climb in price. When valuable metals jump on the open markets, there is a corresponding spike in the antiques world. For me, it is always sad to see these jumps since it means that I have to hunt that much harder to find pieces. Still, I continue to find wonderful pieces of silver that are so undervalued and unappreciated.

I was looking at a friend’s auction catalog, and he was showcasing a number of matched and mismatched silver sets. The estimates were all well below $1,000, and while I am sure the selling price will be over that, the end result will still be a bargain. What do I mean as a bargain? Something that sells for a price that will invariably change for the positive. Something that is of high quality and will be enjoyed for generations to come.

Much has been made about younger generations hating silver. Too bougie, not dishwasher friendly, not fitting into the great hall or kitchen dining experience. And yet, at a recent affair my daughters attended, the conversation among the Millennials and Gen Z was about their mistakes made in giving up family silver.

Several young women had been offered silver by their grandparents but refused it. The family silver was sold off, and now, as young adults, they regreted their decisions. They found they really wanted the silver back and to have the chance to enjoy the pieces when they were old enough to entertain. I suspect that despite all the purported downplaying of silver by many in their generation that they would love to be able to have the family silver back. Sometimes age and maturity counts for more.

Starting to collect silver is easy and can be as basic as acquiring serving pieces to use or as complex as a massive tea service. I am a big fan of coin silver and find that ounce for ounce, it is a great bargain. And if you are willing to pursue nontraditional national silver such as Austrian or Italian silver, you can find true bargains. Just the other week, I purchased a large .800 silver serving fork made in Austria for around $20. It was a lovely piece, made probably on the eve of the First World War, and quite the bargain.

Like all antiques, knowledge is key and critical to buying well. I encourage potential buyers to study marks and styles. Silver is one of those areas where styles do not always go out of fashion, so learning construction and marks is as important as learning styles. Conversely, because silver is very desirable, even out of period silver often has value.

So for parents or grandparents who are looking for that special gift for graduation, anniversary or another special occasion, I encourage you to think about silver as a gift. It will keep its value and give a lot of pleasure.

“Born to collect” should be the motto of Peter Seibert’s family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the MidAtlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seibert’s writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years’ worth antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.

Brandywine River Museum Of Art Presents “Gatecrashers” Exhibit Exploring The Rise Of Self-Taught Artists In America

On View In Chadds Ford, Pa., Beginning May 28

Coming to the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pa., opening Saturday, May 28, “Gatecrashers: The Rise of the Self-Taught Artist in America” will celebrate two dozen early-20th century painters who fundamentally changed the art world. These artists, all without formal training, diversified the field across lines of race, ethnicity, class, gender and ability. Featuring more than 60 works, this exhibition examines how self-taught artists “crashed the gates” of the elite art world after WWI and the remarkable ways in which they reshaped the notion of who could be called an artist in the United States.

“Gatecrashers” is organized by the High Museum of Art and curated by Katherine Jentleson, the High’s curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art. The exhibition includes works by renowned painters such as Horace Pippin, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses and John Kane, as well as by artists who are lesser known now but were recognized in their day, including Morris Hirshfield, Josephine Joy, Lawrence Lebduska, Patrick Sullivan and 17 others.

“This exhibition offers a fascinating new perspective on how self-taught artists were perceived and elevated in the years between World War I and II,” said Thomas Padon, the James H. Duff Director of the Brandywine River Museum of Art. “During this period, the work of selftaught artists was thought to embody a more direct experience of American life. The exhibition reveals how this group brought a heretofore unknown degree of diversity to the inner sanctums of museums and galleries in this country.” Padon added, “The exhibition provides such a fascinating context to the Brandywine’s own holdings of self-taught artists.”

Expanding upon Jentleson’s book of the same title, “Gatecrashers” is organized into several thematic sections that explore the rise of self-taught artists in the era between the wars. The exhibition section entitled “American Mythologies” focuses on how these artists were eagerly embraced under the belief that, by virtue of being self-taught, they were examples of a creative excellence that was “uniquely American,” free from the traditions and innovations that had made European artists dominant for centuries. These breakthrough American artists, such as John Kane and Patsy Santo, often rose from humble or marginalized beginnings and were praised for their originality and national character.

During the Great Depression, the idea of the practical, multitasking American gained particular resonance. In the “Workers First” section, the exhibition examines the role that selftaught artists’ jobs outside the art world played in advancing their reputations. Whether it was Morris Hirshfield’s rise through the ranks of Brooklyn’s textile factories, or Israel Litwak’s trade as a cabinetmaker, critics noted how these artists’ occupational histories influenced their subject matter and helped shape their artistic development. Many selftaught artists, such as Josephine Joy, were also at some point employed by the Federal Art Project, a Depression-era assistance program for artists that underscored the association of art with labor and the importance of government work-relief programs.

A number of self-taught

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William Doriani’s (American, born Ukraine, 1891–1958) “Flag Day,” from 1935, is an oil-oncanvas, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection, image courtesy the Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, New York.

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