John Hess of Hess Auction Group in Manheim, Pa., held a 730-lot multi-consignor sale at its Conestoga Auction Company facility on Feb. 27. The auction grossed $360,150 hammer price, not including buyers premium. There was an 18-percent premium for in-house bidders and 23 percent through Live Auctioneers. The first 86 sewing/textile related lots belonged to the late Edwa Wise. Wise passed away in 2007. Originally from New Orleans, La., and a Tulane University graduate, Wise lived in Arizona prior to moving to southeastern Pennsylvania. She was a sophisticated and well-liked collector of American folk art. Also, a part-time dealer, she was connected to some advanced buyers and handled a number of very special things over the years. Her late husband, Ron Wise, also dealt in antiques. The two restored the 18th-century stone Tobias Bickel farmhouse in Myerstown. Other material besides the sewing-related items in the beginning of the sale was from her estate. Several years ago, Pook & Pook sold Wises collection, notably her pen wipes. A finely embroidered pen wipe in the form of a small hand together with two early fabric birds sold for $1,652. A folk art make-do fabric bird sculpture, cataloged as Pennsylvania, with three birds on a nest mounted on a brass finger lamp, sold to the trade for $3,540. It sold on eBay in 2005, and I bought it from Wanda and Smith (Smitty) Johnson at a York Show, said the dealer who sold it to Wise. It came from Ontario. The seller on eBay listed it as being from a Mennonite community in Southwestern Ontario. It brought $500 in 2005. There were well-known migrations of Mennonite populations moving to the province of Ontario from Pennsylvania. This is not to say the item could not have been made in Pennsylvania. They could have been inherited by an ancester and ended up in Canada. A related make-do fabric bird sculpture on a wooden stand with some mild fading sold for $4,130. Also from the Edwa Wise collection was a very fine needlework sewing roll-up with elaborate embroidered scenes that realized $2,242. The first lot of the sale was an early MG 1759 Pennsylvania flame stitch pocket book retaining vibrant coloration, and good overall condition selling to a collector for $4,425. Despite some condition flaws, much of the material, much of it grouped in small lots, sold well. A miniature stoneware semi-ovoid crock with decoration, 3 inches high, base incised C.S., sold for $7,080. Cataloged only as miniature Pennsylvania 19th century stoneware crock, more accurately it was made at the Swank family pottery in Johnstown, Pa. In the mid-19th century, Johnstown was a properous industrial town. The flood in 1889, which still ranks among the most severe floods in our countrys history, killed Jacob Swank. A few lots later, a miniature stoneware crock with cobalt dots along the shoulder and semi-squared flared rim, also marked C.S., brought $6,490. Some great boxes were in this sale. An early Pennsylvania inlaid mahogany slide-lid box with heart and tulip design inlaid on lid sold for $4,130. A roughly 5-by-7-inch oval wooden paint-decorated box with unusual interior compartments sold for $4,425; a small rectangular red ground paint decorated fabric covered box, front reading L.B. 1839, sold for $13,570. A related box with green ground instead of red and marked S.K. 1843, also with a fabric covered lid, brought $11,210. An oval Bucher box sold for $4,956, and an oval paint decorated paint decorated box with tulips brought $2,596. The high powered stuff in the sale came from the Wise estate. Sadly, over the 14 years since her passing, much of it could have been stored better. Other categories from other consignments included a collection of antique apple peelers, coffee mills, miniature stoves, mid-20th century toys, paintings, oriental rugs, student lamps, metalware, glassware, Zook dioramas, and a large assembly of music boxes. A J.P. Seeburg oak upright coin-op player piano brought $2,478; a Regina quarter sawn oak case upright disc player, $8,850; and a Regina mahogany automatic disc change music box sold for $10,620, the discs in discussion being 15.5-inch metal plates. Boehm porcelain figures were also sold. Boehm began production in 1950 in Trenton, N.J. They remain in production. Keep an eye out for another antique catalog sale in May, date to be determined. For additional information, call Conestoga Auction Company at 717-898-7284. Images courtesy of Hess Auction Group.