[TheForge] Re: Sonn - three volume set

[Mike Spencer]

> I have the three volumes of Sonn's Early American Wrought Iron (NOT
> the 3-in-1 but the original three volume set). They are in fair
> condition. Does anyone have an idea of what's a fair price?

I'd consult a reputable rare book dealer.  Dimitri Gerakaris has the
set so you might ask him what they're worth. IIRC, he got them, along
with some other rare gems, when a friend's father, who was a rare book
guy, passed away.  The friend picked out all the ironwork books from
his father's stock and passed them on to Dimitri.

Bert Shaw, the guy who got me into smithing, was a rural New England
smith who spent his winters in Arkansas shoeing mules to get away from
the harsh winters.  If they were having a colder than usual winter in
Arkansas, he'd go on to Florida and work for the circus, maintaining
circus gear.  When I met him, in his home town in Massachusetts, he
opined that he was too old to to "real" blacksmithing.  So he borrowed
one of the Sonn volumes from the Amherst Town Library and started
knocking out copies of whatever he saw there that he liked.

He had his own little shop across from his house but a newly organized
Arts and Crafts center had offered him a *centrally heated* space for
a shop so he became the Blacksmith in Residence.  Some faculty folks
from UMass that were involved in the center saw him turning out the
Sonn repros as well as custom stuff for rural people, all the while
spinning yarns, telling outrageous lies and spitting on the floor
while smoking horrible, nasty little cigars -- these academic types saw
all this and were totally smitten.  The arranged for him to get an
honorary Ph.D. from UMass.  

He nailed the parchment to a post in his shop with a big old spike and
after that, if some self-important, touristy type was getting too
familiar, what with "Say, Bert, this...." and "Oh, Bert, that...",
he'd take his cigar out of his mouth, spit on the floor, point at the
parchment and reply, "That's 'Doctor Shaw', if you don't mind!"

So I have fond memories of Sonn.  Nobody then knew that within a very
few years, there'd be a revival in smithing and the books would become
valuable collector's volumes.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^