Folk furniture—blanket chests, candleboxes, bookcases, carved mirrors—is somewhat less coveted among collectors today than portraits, according to Courcier, unless very vividly decorative. Another field, schoolgirl needlework samplers and embroideries, remains powerful, with the best examples garnering six figures. But if you are willing to compromise, M. Finkel & Daughter often posts excellent material at considerably more modest prices on its Web site. Typically, girls and young women attending small schools or female academies perfected their sewing skills on samplers and school embroideries. They might be decorated with the alphabet, numbers, a verse of poetry, or even house and lawn scenes. Finkel’s samplers date from 1760 to 1850 and are prized for their pleasing aesthetics as well as their insight into early America.

Another major factor contributing to the dramatic price spikes in the folk art market is that only a handful of American collectors—10 or 15 at most—have pockets deep enough to compete for masterpieces at almost any price. “A lot of new money has come into the market,” says collector Robert Booth, adding that the tendency among these high-end collectors, who often prefer to remain anonymous, is to rely on knowledgeable dealers. For example, Bucks County, Pennsylvania–based dealer C.L. Prickett, representing a private collector, bought a rare 1882 steam locomotive weathervane at the August Northeast Auctions sale for $1.2 million, besting a previous record at that time for a Liberty vane by more than $100,000.

“What we have is a group of people, buying at the recommendation of a few dealers, each with a stable of enormously wealthy collectors, who often don’t do their own research and have the means to buy any masterpiece that comes on the market,” says Johnson.

As in the fine art world, dealers play an important role because the most experienced know how to build and vet a collection. They also can advise as to whether a collector has the best example of a particular genre or whether it’s time to upgrade. “Our clients rely on us to authenticate, analyze, point out restoration, judge a piece on its merits, give quality judgments on a 1-to-10 basis, compare an item to similar other pieces on the market and give appraisals,” says dealer Patrick Bell of Olde Hope Antiques in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

“It’s not enough today to be an antique,” says Courcier. “Collectors are refining their aesthetic. There’s a whole new level of collector chasing the best. Every piece they want has to have something extra going for it—a beautiful form, color, decoration—something extraordinary, and that is what is helping to generate the creation of some superb new American folk art collections.”

Bobbie Leigh is an Art & Antiques New York correspondent.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
American Folk Art Museum, New York, 212.265.1040. www.folkartmuseum.org “A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster Jr.,” though Jan. 7, 2007.
Allan Katz Americana, Woodbridge, Conn. 203.393.9356.
American Antiques Show, Jan. 18–21. Metropolitan Pavilion, New York. 212.977.7170, ext 319. www.theamericanantiquesshow.org
American Folk Art Museum, New York, 212.265.1040. www.folkartmuseum.org C.L. Prickett, Yardley, Pa. 215.493.4284. www.clprickett.com
David A. Schorsch & Eileen M. Smith, Woodbury, Conn. 203.263.3131.
David Wheatcroft Antiques, Westborough, Mass. 508.366.1723. www.davidwheatcroft.com
Fred Giampietro, New Haven, Conn. 203.787.3851. www.fredgiampietro.com
M. Finkel & Daughter, Philadelphia. 215.627.7797. www.samplings.com
Olde Hope Antiques, New Hope, Pa. 215.297.0200. www.oldehope.com
Suzanne Courcier & Robert Wilkins, Yarmouth Port, Mass. 508.362.5420.