Rose Valley Museum Auction Hopes to Fund Esherick Purchases

A Tobey Art Nouveau carved center table is among the 180 items to be auctioned October 25 at the Rose Valley Museum at Thunderbird Lodge. Photo: Carl Finkbeiner

The Rose Valley Museum at Thunderbird Lodge has never taken its eyes off the Wharton Esherick prize. 

The museum will be hosting a curated in-person and online auction October 25. It will feature Arts and Crafts antiques and fine art from the turn of the 20th century. One purpose of the Rose Valley auction is generating proceeds the museum can use to bid on some major Esherick pieces, currently owned by Hedgerow Theatre, that will be auctioned October 29 by Freeman’s in Philadelphia. The museum aims to keep the Hedgerow tables and hammer-handle chairs in Rose Valley.

“We have held two small fundraiser auctions in the past four years, the first with 25 items and the second with 50,” said museum curator Ryan Berley. “This time, we will be partnering with LiveAuctioneers.com, the premier internet auction platform, to provide the broadest possible audience.”

Conducted by Joseph Laskowski of Brandywine Valley Auctions, the event will feature 180 furniture, decorative art, and art items (photo and print). Some pieces are owned by the museum and others donated, although the majority are on consignment from local collectors. 

The lots include Esherick and Stickley furniture, art-pottery tiles and ceramics, hammered copper and wrought iron metalwork, books from Roycroft Press, stained- and art-glass lamps, and etchings by local artists. Highlights include an Esherick signed woodcut of Hedgerow Theatre, a three-legged stool in the Esherick design, a rare Stickley armchair, and a tile with a Tudor rose. 

The live auction on the Thunderbird Lodge porch will run concurrently with the online event. Reservations are required for the former, and participation will be limited based on Pennsylvania coronavirus guidelines. Attendees are asked to bring chairs, wear masks, and practice social distancing. 

“So many live antique events were cancelled this spring,” said Berley. “The online portion will allow collectors and dealers to get their fix.”

A sculptor who worked primarily in wood, Esherick was dubbed “dean of American craftsmen” by master woodworker Sam Maloof. Nearly 100 years ago, he bartered several pieces with Hedgerow Theatre as payment for his daughters’ acting lessons. 

Hedgerow has decided to sell three tables, eight hammer-handle chairs, and a spiral staircase. The proceeds will create an endowment and support building improvements. The Thunder Table, named for the 1929 production of “Thunder on the Left” in which Esherick’s children appeared, is expected to sell for six figures. 

The museum has raised approximately $100,000 for its Keep Wharton Esherick in Rose Valley fund, half of which was used to purchase the table previously used by the actors-in-residence living at Hedgerow House. The remaining $50,000, plus the hoped-for $25,000 from the auction, will be earmarked to bid on the remaining pieces. 

“The picnic table, as it is known, is a major piece we have secured,” said Berley. “We look at any others we are able to buy as a benefit both for the museum and for Hedgerow.”

In-person viewings of the auction items will be held 10 a.m.-5 p.m., October 16-18. The 30-minute appointments, limited to six people per time slot, can be made until 5 p.m. on October 15. The live and virtual auction will begin 1 p.m., Oct. 25, at Thunderbird Lodge, 41 Rose Valley Road. A catalogue and online registration are available here.

Reservations for the in-person viewings and live auction can be made by emailing programs@rosevalleymuseum.org.