Maine Antique Digest May 2015

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8-A Maine Antique Digest, May 2015
Fragments
The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
in Hartford, Connecticut, has purchased the
circa 1876 Bingham family Civil War memorial
secretary from Woodbridge, Connecticut, folk
art dealer Allan Katz. No price was disclosed,
but the secretary was tagged $375,000 at the
2015 Winter Antiques Show in New York City.
The secretary was made by members of Con-
necticut’s 16th Volunteer Infantry and tells the
story of brothers John and Wells Bingham of
East Haddam, Connecticut, who fought at An-
tietam in 1862. John lost his life during the bat-
tle, one of 43 soldiers from the 16th Infantry
killed in the first advance. Wells escaped the
battle uninjured.
Over a decade later, friends of Wells present-
ed the veteran with the secretary in memory of
his brother. A plaque on the secretary reads:
“Presented to Wells A. Bingham by his friends.
The secretary a remembrance of his brother
John F. Bingham who offered up his life at An-
tietam, Maryland Sept. 17, 1862. The encased
star a remnant of the colors carried that day by
the 16th Infantry. The memory plaque made
from a shard of his knife. July 4, 1876.”
The 8' tall piece is made of walnut, oak, and
maple, and ornamented with bone, horn, and
abalone. At the top, a Seth Thomas eight-day
painted clock with brass movement is mount-
ed on a plinth with the inscription “The Union
Preserved.” A carved eagle perches over the
clock dial and grasps in his beak a chain, which
falls in a garland with 16 balls (possibly a refer-
ence to Connecticut’s 16th Infantry) and links
to eight turned spire-like finials along the cor-
nice. The eight spires may represent John Bing-
ham’s eight brothers.
The Bingham secretary is a collage of cultur-
al references, including Revolutionary War-era
iconography and mottoes, Civil War flags and
military badges, miniature portraits based on
popular prints, and nostalgic keepsakes. The
secretary has a music box that plays “Yankee
Doodle Dandy” when the glass doors open, and
a handwritten note framed on the interior of
the case has the last four lines of Henry Clay’s
“The Little Major.”
“We are thrilled to add this stunning piece to
the museum collection,” said Alyce Perry Eng-
lund, the Richard Koopman Associate Curator
of American Decorative Arts, in a statement.
“In addition to the exquisite craftsmanship of
the secretary, it tells a story so tragic and deep-
ly rooted in our country’s heritage, it is a trea-
sure to behold for art and history buffs alike.”
Katz said, “We are truly honored to have
been able to have brought to the public’s atten-
tion this remarkably educational and inspira-
tional tribute to a patriotic Connecticut family.
We can think of no more appropriate nor vener-
able institution than the Wadsworth Atheneum
to become the permanent home of the Bingham
family Civil War memorial secretary.”
The Bingham secretary will go on view in
the museum’s Avery Memorial building in
the summer. For more information, call (860)
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Acquires Bingham
Family Civil War Memorial Secretary
Photo courtesy
Wadsworth Atheneum
Museum of Art.
Round Lake
Antiques Festival
Gets New Promoter
The Round Lake Antiques
Festival in Round Lake,
New York, has a new promoter,
Michael Green of Fairground
Shows NY, who is best known
for promoting the Washington
County Antique Fair.
“I plan on doing some ag-
gressive advertising and lots of
person-to-person marketing. I
like to go around to other shows
and antiques shops and tell peo-
ple about the shows I promote,”
Green said. “I also like to get the
dealers spreading the word by
offering discounts for new deal-
er referrals.”
The 2015 festival will take
place on June 27 and 28. Dealers
wishing to get in on the festival
for more information.
Raise the Speaker’s Roof
by Lita Solis-Cohen
The Speaker’s House in Trappe, Montgomery
County, Pennsylvania, needs a roof. It is the
house where Frederick Muhlenberg lived when
he served as first Speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives. He was also the first signer of the
Bill of Rights and president of the Pennsylvania
Constitutional Convention in 1787.
In 1781 Muhlenberg bought the stone house that
had been built in 1763 and 50 acres in the town of
Trappe, where he was born. At the time, 31-year-
old Muhlenberg was serving as Speaker of the
Pennsylvania Assembly. In 1782 he built a general
store attached to the east side of the house and ex-
panded the house on the west side.
When Montgomery County was formed in 1784,
Muhlenberg was appointed the first president judge,
register of wills, and recorder of deeds. There was
not yet a courthouse, so his house was used as a de
facto seat of government for several years. In 1787
Muhlenberg was president of the Pennsylvania
Constitutional Convention; in 1788 he was elected
representative to the first Congress; and in 1789 he
was elected as the first Speaker of the U.S. House
of Representatives. In that capacity, he was the first
signer of the Bill of Rights. When the U.S. capital
moved from New York to Philadelphia in 1790, he
sold the house to his sister and brother-in law, Mary
and Francis Swaine, and they took over the general
store and ran it during the 1790s.
Frederick Muhlenberg was elected to Congress
for two more terms, and the third Congress elected
him Speaker again. In 1796 Muhlenberg cast the
tie-breaking vote as chairman of the house com-
mittee to ratify the Jay Treaty, an effort to improve
postwar British-American tensions. Muhlenberg’s
vote ended his political career because the treaty
was unpopular with many Americans, so much so
that Muhlenberg was stabbed by his own brother-
in-law. He survived but was not nominated to the
next Congress.
In 1799 he was appointed receiver general of the
Pennsylvania Land Office and moved to Lancas-
ter, then the state capital, where he lived until his
death in 1801.
Threatened with demolition in 1999, the Speak-
er’s House and nearly two-acre property was saved
by a grassroots group that has been working for a
decade to restore it to its 18th-century appearance.
An annual archaeology field school for college
credit is run by Montgomery County Community
College on the site in May and June for anyone age
15 or older.
A fund-raising gala is held once a year honoring
an individual who embodies the leadership qual-
ities of Frederick Muhlenberg, who took his civ-
ic responsibilities seriously. This year’s recipient
is Leslie Anne Miller. A practicing Philadelphia
lawyer for 25 years, Miller, the first woman to be
elected president of the Pennsylvania Bar Associ-
ation, is a civic and cultural leader. She recently
wrote a book, Start with a House, Finish with a
Collection , to share her joy of collecting American
art and antiques.
The award will be presented at the third annual
Speaker’s House Raise the Roof gala on Sunday,
April 26, from 5 to 9 p.m. at The Barn on Bridge,
385 Bridge Street in Collegeville, Pennsylvania.
Tickets start at $150 a person for an evening of live
music, dancing, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a seated
dinner, and dessert. There will also be a silent auc-
tion of work by local craftsmen.
All proceeds from the event will directly support
the restoration of the historic Frederick Muhlen-
berg house. The fund-raising goal for the exteri-
or phase of the project is $250,000, which includes
the replacement of the current mansard roof—now
more than 140 years old and nearing the end of its
lifespan—with a pitched roof based on original ar-
chitectural evidence.
For more information or to order tickets, check
The Speaker’s House, P.O. Box 26686, Trappe, PA
19426, e-mail >, or call
(610) 489-2105.
The Speaker’s House is one of four historical
structures in the town of Trappe, which was found-
ed in 1717. The old Augustus Lutheran Church,
the parsonage, and the house of Frederick’s broth-
er, Henry Muhlenberg, a pastor and botanist, have
been restored.
The Speaker’s House as it looks today: the outline
of the general store added by Frederick Muhlenberg
in 1782 is visible on the gable wall. Photo courtesy
Gavin Ashworth.
Insurance for Conceptual Art
Crystal & Company has partnered with AIG Private Client
Group to create a new insurance solution for collectors with
conceptual art collections, according to a press release.
Conceptual art, the company said, is focused more on the idea
being expressed, while the form and material are secondary. A cer-
tificate is provided by the artist to authenticate an item, and with-
out this, the piece may be considered worthless. If the certificate is
lost or damaged, the item may lose most of its value.
Historically, references to lost or damaged certificates of owner-
ship have not been spelled out in fine art insurance policies, which
can lead to uncertainty in the event of a claim. The endorsement
created by AIG insurers in collaboration with Crystal & Company
specifies where conceptual artwork is covered.
In 2012, a certificate that accompanied a 1985 wall drawing
(Wall Drawing #448) by Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) was lost, leading
to a lawsuit (see M.A.D., July 2012, p. 10-A). The suit was filed
by an art collector and dealer in Puerto Rico. He had consigned the
artwork—that is, its certificate of authenticity (“This is to certify
that the Sol LeWitt wall drawing number 448 evidenced by this
certificate is authentic”) and a diagrammatic description of what it
would look like (the maquette)—to a Chicago art dealer on March
31, 2008. At some point between that date and January 2011, the
dealer lost the certificate and maquette. She informed the collector
in January 2012 that her insurance company refused to cover the
loss. The collector’s suit, charging failure to “Maintain and Pre-
serve Certificate” and negligence, followed. The case was settled
out of court.
“We constantly ask ourselves what trends in the art world might
impact our clients and what we can do to make sure their collec-
tions are protected,” said Jonathan Crystal, executive vice presi-
dent of Crystal & Company. “Since a piece of paper is often the
only document essentially giving value to a work of conceptual
art, we wanted to find a way to protect our clients’ investments
even if something happens to their certificate.”