Cast iron Americana: Incredible door stop made by Sarah Symonds (1870-1965) Salem, Massachusetts. Young women traveller named Phoebe with hat box and carpet bag. 100% original paint ca 1910.

 Cast iron American antiques come in many forms. Still banks, toys, door knockers, snow birds, weather vanes, tractor seats, windmill weights, whimseys of all sorts and door stops. This incredible piece is available for purchase here. You will not find a better one anyplace.

Sarah W. Symonds (1870–1965) was widely known for her figurines and bas relief plaques of historic sites throughout New England that “recall our colorful past.” The daughter of Lydia F. DaCosta and Lemuel W. Symonds, Sarah graduated from Emerson College in Boston “at a time when only a few courageous daughters of America were launching careers on their own,” according to a 1976 Antiques Journal article written during America’s Bicentennial.

At first, she studied oratory, but Sarah soon determined that artistic modeling was where she excelled. It is thought that her inspiration was derived from another Salem woman sculptor, Louisa Lander. Sarah became quite successful and sought-after for her ivory-finished or painted molds in shades of tan and brown.

It was said of her that “the merit of Sarah W. Symonds’ work is her choice of subject, her feeling for it, and the truth of her expression; she not only created but embalmed.”  Sarah continued working well into her eightieth year, and enjoyed great celebrity late in her life. (courtesy Salem Women's History)
Sarah opened her first studio in the John Ward House. Her second studio was located at One Brown Street. A gift shop followed at the Hawthorne Hotel, and eventually there was a summer shop in nearby Marblehead. Sarah was a skillful marketer, and advertised and filled orders herself. Her artistic reputation established, Sarah also created a line of mementos for tourists, including incense burners, witch-stirred caldrons, door knockers, and paper weights.

Early and rare, pine American folk art, decoupage merchants cash box. Made and gifted by the son to the owner, C. Taylor. Very possibly 18th century.

This is one of the coolest early boxes I have ever seen. The top has a building called City Hall Cloth and Clothes Warehouse. This could be a southern box. Charleston or New Orleans perhaps. Above the building is "A Present From My" below the building is "Son. C. Taylor". In large letters above building says Terms Cash. Each of the 4 sides is covered, I have more photos just ask. All represent business, industry and commerce and patriotism. Incredible color, patina, dry and crusty surface. Original varnish is checked and a turned a beautiful color. Top might be worth a very light cleaning, it is absolutely as-found and 100% original. 8 1/2 x 11 1/4 x 3 1/2 deep. You will not be disappointed and I believe there is money left in this rare son to father box.

It is available for purchase here

Beautiful pair of Lori-Bakhtiari saddle bags. Far Province southwestern Iran ca. 1900-1925

Available for purchase here

Lori (Luri) is the language spoken by the Bakhtiari and Luri people of southwestern Iran.
The Bakhtiari (Persian: بختیاری‎) are an ancient southwestern Persians tribe.
They speak the Bakhtiari dialect, a southwestern Iranian dialect, belonging to the Luri language.
A small percentage of Bakhtiari are still nomadic pastoralists, migrating between summer quarters (sardsīr or yaylāq) and winter quarters (garmsīr or qishlāq). Numerical estimates of their total population widely vary. Bakhtiaris primarily inhabit Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari and eastern Khuzestan, Lorestan, Bushehr, and Isfahan. In Khuzestan, Bakhtiari tribes are primarily concentrated in the eastern part of the province. (Wiki)

 Regarding these saddle bags, we found the best description at Rug Firm.

Among the tribal, flat-woven Persian rugs, the vast number of containers made by the Lor and Bakhtiari tribes are some of the most attractive fabrics ever produced. Saddle bags, flour bags, bedding bags, and salt bags are the most common textiles of this group. It is the intention of this article to take a closer look at the characteristics of saddle bags.

A saddle bag (called Khorjeen in Farsi) consists of two identical pouches or side compartments opposite one another with one continuous back that is shared by both. Saddle bags range in size from tiny to very big, the largest of which are woven by the Lors of Lorestan, known in that area as “Talis”. They can measure up to about 50 inches in width by over 70 inches all the way around. Flat-woven bags have certain common qualities: Around the bottom and a short way up the front and back faces, a straight strip of pile can be found, the function of which is to give the bags additional strength at the place of greatest stress and wear, and an added aesthetic quality which is best seen when these bags are full and placed, as they often are, on top of each other in the tent, the pile part alone meeting the eye. Another characteristic feature is their black, wire-like, goat hair selvedge bindings. They are closed by means of a series of black goat hair loops put through slits at the top of each face and then interlocked to form a chain-like progression across the mouths of the bag. Normally there is only one row of these loops for two sets of slits which overlap each other. In view of the considerable volume and weight that can be taken by saddle bags, a combination of flat-weave and pile is probably the best solution to the problem of strength versus weight. After being filled with the tribes’ possessions, they are thrown over the backs of pack animals, where they also serve as padding for a rider who usually sits on top of a cover of some kind.

In comparison to the enormous saddle bags of Lorestan, those from the tribes of Fars and the Bakhtiaris, while reaching sizeable proportions, tend to seem somewhat small. They have either straight pile bottoms or, as is often the case in the larger ones, bottoms that appear to be reinforced in the corners and indented in the middle. Their selvedges are usually of black goat hair, and their loops of the same material or occasionally of multicolored, braided wool or narrow, tablet-woven bands. A feature which distinguishes these bags from those of Lorestan is the use of a double row of loops instead of a single one, each row serving to close one of the two pouches. The Lori saddle bags from the Varamin area can also reach large dimensions, though rarely of the “Talis” range. Like those produced in Lorestan, they have straight pile strips along the bottom and only one row of loops. Selvedges are usually missing in the older bags. In the case of one which still has this intact, it is done in alternating white and brown stripes of hard goat hair. In terms of the quality of weave and decoration of the backs, these differ from those of their counterparts to the Southwest.
Generally speaking, no particular function or use can be attributed to saddle bags, being as they are multipurpose in nature. Only their sizes and the tasks for which they are needed usually determine how they are utilized. Today, old pieces of saddle bags come with relatively large price tags not because of their use or function, but due to their originality as antique pieces of artwork.

Old artists palettes as a piece of art. Beautiful found objects,

This morning I was looking at this old palette we have in stock. It is initialed and dated 1910 and is really academically quite good. I don't know whether the portrait is of the artist himself or someone else but it is cool. It is available here.

It seems like whenever we get an old palette in with lots of paint glopped on it the piece sells really quickly. Same with one that has a portrait or landscape actually painted on it. The ones that were left just as they were when the artist was using them are like accidental abstract paintings left for us to ponder and enjoy.