MONUMENTAL MOLDED COPPER AND ZINC 'COOPERSTOWN' COW WEATHERVANE, PROBABLY NEW ENGLAND, CIRCA 1880
Auction Closed
January 25, 10:08 PM GMT
Estimate
250,000 - 350,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
MONUMENTAL MOLDED COPPER AND ZINC 'COOPERSTOWN' COW WEATHERVANE, PROBABLY NEW ENGLAND, CIRCA 1880
double-sided with a realistically rendered face, horns, and hooves with remnants of original gilding and variegated paints.
Height 42 ½ in. by Length 61 in.
Removed from the dairy barn owned by Edward Cabot Clark, Cooperstown, New York;
Descended in the family of Edward Severin Clark, Cooperstown, New York;
Private Collection;
Sotheby's New York, Important Americana, January 19-21, 2007, sale 8278, lot 424.
This unique and monumental vane originally topped the Edward Severin Clark’s dairy barn, the heir of Singer sewing machine company, in Cooperstown, New York, which was built on land once owned by James Fenimore Cooper. Clark (1870–1933) lived the life of a gentleman farmer on his 1,182-acre dairy farm, which supplied milk to local businesses and citizens. His “Fenimore Barn” was dedicated in 1881 and the cow remained on it until Clark had an enormous Colonial Revival fieldstone barn built to replace it in 1918. The second barn became the entrance to the Farmer’s Museum, which was opened to the public in 1943 at the invitation of Edward Clark’s brother, Stephen.