Synopses & Reviews
This book has been inspired by the collection of James C. Sorber of West Chester, Pennsylvania. It is the culmination of a lifetime of selective collecting of wrought iron pieces with a specific focus on signed and dated items from Pennsylvania and the Northeastern states. This collection represents his intent to present a diversity of well-crafted objects that would reflect the wide range of items made by skilled blacksmiths.
Contained within this assemblage is both the commonplace and the mundane and the artistic and unusual. It mattered most to Jim that it reflected a high level of craftsmanship. The collection is a memorial to the common and universal blacksmith who was an accomplished craftsman at this trade. Its great variety reflects the wide range of products that rolled endlessly from the blacksmith's forge and anvil.
Synopsis
Colonial Wrought Iron is a photographic survey of early wrought iron work in America with 506 photographs from the Sorber Collection. The colonial period in America was centered around the blacksmith who was the maker and creator of these items. The informational text explains the characteristics and the conditions of the period in which the iron was forged. Colonial Wrought Iron is an invaluable resource tool for the blacksmith involved making reproduction hardware and related items, as well as an inspiration for merging form and function. In this book you will find the commonplace and the ornate but they all reflect the hand of fine craftsmanship. The work displayed in Colonial Wrought Iron is from the collection of Jim Sorber. Jim, now in his eighties, has been an avid collector for 70 years. This collection is a result of a life steeped in an enduring appreciation for the skills of his ancestors. Even as a child he was interested in their hand tools and the wonderful things they made. That interest soon grew into a passion. A unique aspect of Jims collection is that it reflects a certain ethnic influence. Much of his collecting has been done near his home in the counties of Berks, Chester, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery and Schuylkill. This area has been settled by German immigrants since the mid-to-late 17th century. Jims collection, many pieces of which are signed and dated, reflects an iron chronicle of the Pennsylvania Dutch migration westward from the Philadelphia area.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-236) and index.