[TheForge] Sonn - three volume set

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

Good portrait Mike, thanks.

Mike Spencer wrote:
>> 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
>