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10:50:45 pm Antiques Appraised at Women's Club

Categories: Rochester

A picture is worth a thousand words - but is it worth a thousand dollars, too?

This is the question that the Rochester Women’s Club sought to answer with the help of Marion Antique appraiser Frank McNamee at a November 29 antique appraising event in the Rochester Women’s Clubhouse. This is one of several attention-drawing events that co-presidents Marsha Hartley and Nancy Boutin are hoping will generate interest in the Rochester Women’s Club.

After a two year lull in activity, the Women’s Club is ready to move along at full-steam again, with monthly meetings and community events on the horizon. Starting in January, there will be a 7:00 pm meeting on the first Thursday of each month, where group members can socialize and talk about how to serve their community again.

The Rochester Women’s Club wants “to regroup and get the club noticed again,” said Ms. Hartley, who is the third generation in her family to run the Women’s Club – her aunt was once the Club president, and her grandmother, Katherine Hartley, was the founding president. “We want to let the public know that the annex belongs to the Women’s Club,” she continued. The annex is currently used by the Rochester Town Hall, but it is owned by the Rochester Women’s Club, which is one of the only women’s clubs in the country to actually own its own clubhouse.

The Clubhouse was originally the Men’s Athletic Clubhouse, and was the place in Rochester for billiards, basketball, baseball, and even bowling. In 1928, a Women’s Auxiliary Club was created and the Rochester Women’s Club developed from there.

The Clubhouse is itself an antique and was built with lumber from the Hartley sawmill. It may not be glossy with new amenities, but it is homey, and lovingly maintained. “I vacuum, vacuum, vacuum,” laughed Ms. Boutin, who helped carefully clean and arrange the Clubhouse in preparation for the antique appraisal event. There was a spread of home-baked goodies, some wreaths made by Club members, and a white elephant table at the antique show.

Visitors lined up, sometimes out the door, to have Mr. McNamee give a history and approximate value to their treasures. Mr. McNamee, who is an officer for the Sippican Historical Society and one of the founders of the Marion Antique Show, said that most appraisals are routine. Most items aren’t worth much more than $100, but they are priceless to the people who carefully place them on the table in front of him. Mr. McNamee conducts these weekend appraisal events for non-profit groups like the Rochester Women’s Club, the Rochester Lands Trust, and the Wareham Historical Society.

Most recently, Mr. McNamee helped appraise a 19^th century Spanish painting by Madrazo. The painting was found in the attic of a Marion rental house and was valued at $86,000.

The first antique that Mr. McNamee evaluated at the Rochester Women’s Club antique show was from Cecilia Smith, who is also a Rochester Women’s Club member. She waited patiently to hear more about the old net repair kit that had belonged to her ancestor, John D. Ferreira Smith. The kit included several sharp tools to repair fishing nets and a heavy pad to protect the hand. Mr. McNamee said if the kit had included baleen and whalebone, it would be worth as much as $1000, but since it wasn’t, it was worth about $150.

To Ms. Smith, the real interest was the story behind the kit. John D. Ferreira’s name was changed to “Smith” because he was a coopersmith by trade. Ms. Smith intends on donating the item at some point to the Fairhaven Historical Society.

Shirley Hartley brought in an attractive 19^th century children’s high chair. Mr. McNamee immediately identified it as an American Windsor “Arrowback” high chair from 1810-1820. The original piece had a footrest, but Mr. McNamee said that it had been kicked off by “an exuberant child”.

Other items at the antique show were a 19^th century “splint” basket that was probably originally sold for 49 cents (now worth $50), a Catholic shadow box from 1910-1920, a 1910 English colored lithograph, a European print signed by the artist entitled “A Bridge in Belgium”, a German canteen decorated with real bullets, and an early 20^th century “micrometer” scale that had been used in a New Bedford shop.

Marsha Hartley says that she is interested in making the Women’s Club more active, but she also wants to express gratitude to “the women who came before us – all of the members.”

“We are having so much fun,” said Ms. Boutin.

 

For more information about the Rochester Women’s Club, call 508-654-6621.

By Anne O’Brien-Kakley

 

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