Published October 2006
Rock/Paper/Scissors Not Child's Play at Green Valley
By Walter C. Newman, Maine Antique Digest
Green Valley Auctions (now Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Inc.) of Mount Crawford, Virginia,
held its semiannual cataloged sale of antiques, Americana, and decorative arts on June 23 and 24,
2006. The sale attracted 555 registered bidders representing 26 states, Germany, and the United
Kingdom. Among the 1,297 lots in the two-day event was a wide assortment of Shenandoah Valley
folk pottery and stoneware items, as well as a Virginia fraktur recently discovered in a Rockingham
County estate and an early 19th-century paper silhouette cut using scissors held in the artist's
mouth.
Shenandoah Valley folk pottery continues to be a consistently strong performer at Green Valley
sales. When asked about the seemingly never-ending desire for these ceramics, owner and chief
auctioneer Jeffrey Evans commented, "I am amazed that the prices stay so strong and continue to
escalate. I remember when we sold our first piece of [Shenandoah] Valley pottery for ten thousand
dollars back in 1997; that same piece would sell in the twenty-thousand- to thirty-thousand-dollar
range now. There are probably no more passionate collectors than [those of] folk pottery."
That passion was evident throughout the pottery section of the sale. Strength in the category is
demonstrated by the fact that each of the 92 pottery lots sold at the high end of its published
estimate or exceeded it.
High lot of the day was from the Shenandoah Valley, but it was not stoneware. It was a recently
discovered Rockingham County, Virginia, fraktur documenting the life of Sally Blaser. The fraktur
was written in German and had not been translated prior to the sale. Following the sale, Dr. Sam
Merrill, retired professor of German at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg,
Virginia, used an enlarged photograph of the text and translated the document for M.A.D.
The fraktur's inscription was divided into four parts: a short poem expressing love for the newly
Jeffrey S. Evans and wife/business partner Beverley A. Evans are the former owners of Green Valley Auctions, Inc. in
Mt. Crawford, VA (1979-2008) and founders of Green Valley’s catalogued auction division (1995-2008). In 2009 Jeff
and Beverley reestablished their catalogued auction operation under their new firm, Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Inc.,
which is also located in Mt. Crawford. For more information, call (540) 434-3939 or visit www.jeffreysevans.com.
born child; a section giving the child's name and specifics of her birth date; a statement giving the
names of the parents and witnesses to the birth; and a concluding prayer for the child. The
document is signed "Written by Father Leonhart 1816." Many years later, after the death of the
adult Sally Blaser, someone added, in English, the date of her death, and in so doing completed the
official life of Sally.
This interesting piece of personal history, estimated at $8,000 to 12,000, sold for $20,900 (includes
buyer's premium).
The fraktur notwithstanding, there was no doubt which item in the sale was expected to be high lot
of the day. As lot number 315 approached, the room became quiet and attentive. Green Valley staff
members attended all of the available telephones. This was the feature attraction and what many in
the gallery had come to see: a Johannes Spitler paint-decorated blanket chest. This was the first
Spitler piece known to have come to market since the record-setting hanging cupboard that sold
from the Green Valley podium less than two years ago for $962,500.
This was a paint-decorated yellow pine blanket chest, circa 1800, measuring 28" x 48" x 22". It was
boldly decorated with pinwheels, vines, crescents, doves, tulips, and other common decorations of
the time. The case had an upper deep-well chest over two drawers with decorated fronts. The
chest's provenance was very clearly documented, and the sale catalog made reference to the fact
that along with a similar chest in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center
(AARFAC) in Williamsburg, Virginia, "these two chests represent the only recorded examples
featuring fully decorated drawer fronts as well as exhibiting the meandering flowering vine motif."
The catalog also included the following statement regarding the chest: "Recent professional
conservation…includes the restoration of the feet, which were copied from the chest in the
AARFAC collection in Williamsburg. Small restorations were also made to the base moldings and
drawer lips. The surface has been cleaned of paint enhancements, darkened varnishes and some
light wall paint spattering…."
The time was at hand; lot 315 was called. Auctioneer Jeffrey Evans scanned his absentee bid list
and announced that the bidding would open at $80,000. With an estimate of $100,000/ 150,000,
that was no surprise. The surprise was that there was no advance on the opening bid. The phone
bidders were silent; the floor was silent. Evans called again for bids, checked with the floor, and
again with the phones. Still there was no advance. Mercifully, Evans did not prolong the agony.
The blanket chest was passed, having fallen short of its reserve.
There was much conversation afterward as to why the piece failed to sell. The line at the snack bar
was rife with speculation. Yes, the piece had been "professionally conserved." Yes, it did look
"really clean." But the consensus was that some museum might have missed a chance to steal a rare
Spitler piece.
According to Evans, there had been some presale interest from institutions, but none had stepped to
Jeffrey S. Evans and wife/business partner Beverley A. Evans are the former owners of Green Valley Auctions, Inc. in
Mt. Crawford, VA (1979-2008) and founders of Green Valley’s catalogued auction division (1995-2008). In 2009 Jeff
and Beverley reestablished their catalogued auction operation under their new firm, Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Inc.,
which is also located in Mt. Crawford. For more information, call (540) 434-3939 or visit www.jeffreysevans.com.
the plate. He commented, "I think that they missed a real opportunity to add an extremely graphic
and important example to their collections for a figure that they should have been able to raise...As
they say, the time to strike is when the iron is hot."
One individual left shortly after the chest had been passed and commented that he had only come to
see what the chest brought. When asked to explain, he said that he had a friend who owned a
Spitler piece, and the friend was interested in what the market was like. "This will not make him
happy," he said as he hurried to the parking lot.
A week after the sale, Evans was asked whether there had been any post-sale interest in the chest.
He said that there had been two inquiries, but that the consignors had decided to take the chest off
the market and return it to their collection.
© 2006 by Maine Antique Digest
Jeffrey S. Evans and wife/business partner Beverley A. Evans are the former owners of Green Valley Auctions, Inc. in
Mt. Crawford, VA (1979-2008) and founders of Green Valley’s catalogued auction division (1995-2008). In 2009 Jeff
and Beverley reestablished their catalogued auction operation under their new firm, Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Inc.,
which is also located in Mt. Crawford. For more information, call (540) 434-3939 or visit www.jeffreysevans.com.