Excerpt from the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies - 2010

Jill Kent, ISA AM wrote an excellent article on appraising folk art. It is a well documented article and covers portraits, weathervanes, Redware and ceramics, samplers, and decoys. As a generalist appraiser, if you ever come across folk art this article touches on many of the necessary areas and topics of each important sector, and includes information on artisans, value factors and condition factor. It is a great primer for appraisers on evaluating folk art.

Next week, Soodie Beasley, ASA AM on Fantasy Furniture by Designers: Mark, Mont, Duquette and Springer.

Here is an excerpt from Jill Kent's article on folk art about weathervanes.

American weathervanes date back to the earliest settlers and continued to the first quarter of the 20th century. The evolution from the purely functional to art form was “gradual and unintentional”. Though common in Europe for centuries; weathervanes became “a quintessentially American form” in the 18th and 19th centuries.  During the 17th and 18th centuries, the subject matter was limited to a few simple designs—roosters, arrows, fish, cocks, Indians, serpents and grasshoppers, to name a few. The weathervanes were either carved from wood or made of sheet metal. Wooden vanes were always painted for protection from the elements, as well as to make them more conspicuous. They were often used as trade signs. The metal ones could be painted or gilded; but the majority were unpainted. A copper cockerel, made in 1656 for the Dutch Reformed Church at Albany is one of the earliest in America. Another early weathervane is a codfish, studded with copper nails, that originally topped the Paul Revere coppersmith shop in Canton, Massachusetts. The most famous early weathervane maker was Shem Drowne (1683-1744). He crafted the huge copper cockerel for New Brick Church on Hanover in Boston and the hammered copper grasshopper with green glass eyes for the cupola of Fanueil Hall in Boston in 1749.

Although most of the survivals of early weathervanes are in New England, there is a small number of surviving Pennsylvania weathervanes; There is a weathervane of an Indian of more than human scale (76 ½”x 35 ½”) probably from Dauphin County (c. 1780-1820). It is likely that Peter Derr (1793-1868), of Berks County, made metal weathervanes, including Indians associated with the history of Indians near his family property. 

After the mid-nineteenth century, the majority of the weathervanes were factory-made. These weathervanes, in general, were molded in the round or half-round. The materials used were mostly copper; but they were also cast in iron, zinc and tin. They were then painted or covered with yellow ochre under gilding. They were finished by hand.

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