American Wrought Iron Utensils, Tools, and Architectural Hardware from the Renowned C...

American Wrought Iron Utensils, Tools, and Architectural Hardware from the Renowned Collection of James Sorber. Presented to you in this catalog is a most unusual collection. It is a collection of blacksmith made items that cover the breadth of a craft and a time never to return. A time when the countless laboring blacksmiths of this country provided the iron that helped meet the often-desperate needs of their communities. Needs that often meant the difference between life and death. These eras of genuine need for items of daily living that had to be hand-crafted, are forever gone. The pieces now before you were hand foged during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries when there was a desperation to have an iron latch that would keep a door from ripping open during a wintry blast or scraping claw; when a candle light could help chase away the cold gloom of a February night; when a few simple but durable utensils allowed a young woman to boil a soup over an open hearth for her family. These are the items that were held in hand and felt the touch of a thousand fingers, year after year, generation after generation. They represent an assemblage of Americana at its very basic and yet at its very finest. They come from the collection of mr. James C. Sorber of West Chester, Pennsylvania, a man whose knowledge of the Colonial period in America, ability to recognize quality and devotion to this craft, may be unmatched today. Mr. Sorber's lifetime has focused on collecting the very finest crafted examples of these articles of daily living. They may be of common usage, but they are of uncommon craftmanship. Don Plummer 15% bp.