STEEPLE CHASEWILLIAM F. TUCKERMAN(1816-1871) | Steeple ChaseWilliam F. Tuckerman(1816-1871)

stamped on the left side of the neck TUCKERMAN / BOSTON

Dr. and Mrs. Robert E. Booth, Jr., Gladwyne, Pennsylvania; 
David A. Schorsch, Inc., New York.

Tom Geismar and Harvey Kahn, Spiritually Moving:  A Collection of American Folk Art Sculpture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998) pl. 12, illus. in color.

Green paint applied with brush, sharp edges on the fence. IMPORTANT NOTICE: Purchasers may pay for and pick up their purchases from any of our Americana Week sales taking place from January 17-20, 2019, at our York Avenue headquarters until the close of business on Sunday, January 20, 2019. After this time, all property (sold and unsold) will be transferred to our offsite facility, Crozier Fine Art, One Star Ledger Plaza, 69 Court Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102. Once property has been transferred from our York Avenue location, it will not be available for collection at Crozier Fine Arts until Friday, January 25, 2019. Crozier's hours of operation for collection are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday-Friday. Please note, certain items of property, including but not limited to jewelry, watches, silver and works on panel will remain at 1334 York Avenue. Invoices and statements will indicate your property's location. For more information regarding collection from our offsite facility, please visit sothebys.com/pickup.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This is one of only two known weathervanes stamped by Tuckerman. A closely related but unmarked Tuckerman weathervane is illustrated in Sotheby's The American Folk Art Collection of Frank and Karen Miele. January 28, 1984, lot 31. No records or advertisements associated with the Boston coppersmith William F. Tuckerman mention weathervanes, but the forms of his two known stamped vanes bear striking similarities to the work of A.L. Jewell, a younger man whom he probably knew and may have influenced.

Tuckerman is listed as an exhibitor at the second exhibition and fair of The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association held in Boston in the fall of 1839, where his "one large and two miniature copper Tea Kettles" were cited as "fine work and worthy of notice" by the judges. He appears in city directories throughout the 1840s and 50s, and the 1860 Federal Census shows him employing eight men in the manufacture of soda fountains, wash boilers, and "other articles," which was the biggest part of his business, with finished goods valued at $6,000 on hand, along with $4,200 worth of sheet copper. The tantalizing question is how many of those "finished goods" were weathervanes?