Erin Chance photo.
In late January, Pook & Pook announced that Beth Pook, the auction house’s longtime gallery exhibition designer, was retiring. While online shopping has been on an upward trend, most auction houses still take the trouble to present all the items in a sale in a public preview, giving potential buyers an opportunity to examine prospective purchases in person. Pook was kind enough to give us some insights into what the job entailed.
For readers who don’t know, how are you connected/related to the team at Pook & Pook?
Pook and Pook, Inc, is a family owned business, founded by my brother Ron and sister-in-law Debra, with their daughter Deirdre as president and son James, as vice president. I felt honored when they asked me to join the business in May 2008. With a marketing background concentrating on chocolate and coffee with the Mars/M&M group, I was a bit hesitant with little knowledge of the world of antiques. I accepted the challenge and considered it a privilege to join the family business.
How long were you with the auction house and what jobs did you have there?
In 1988, I relocated back to Pennsylvania after living in Ontario for ten years. I secured a full-time job at Mars/M&M in West Chester but was always eager to work weekends at the Ludwigs Firehall, where the early auctions were held. There was no Powerpoint and no internet, just the podium, microphone, which sometimes worked, and of course the gavel. In 2008, I became a full-time employee at the auction house’s present location and took over the task of exhibition display and auction staffing. With 20 years of marketing behind me, I quickly grew accustomed to the stream of the unusual, the priceless and the bizarre items crossing the auction block. I have overseen the staging and set-up of more than 20 auctions a year, both live and online. With the live auctions, I enjoyed phone bidding with clients all over the world. You develop relationships with each bidder and learn how they each prefer to bid — jumping right in or holding back and letting the bids run. Being able to judge the audience, other phone bidders or left bids, they are trusting you if you suggest going one more increment to win their coveted lot. You really share their excitement when the gavel hits in their favor. I’ve also had the task of cleaning or making small repairs to items that have come in missing pieces or have sat in storage or attics for many years. I love the challenge of bringing a European stumpwork casket dating from around 1650, back to life. With a small brush and compressed air, the brilliant colors become unearthed from layers of dust and dirt. The repair could also be as simple as tweaking a screw or replacing a nail to bring a whirligig back in working order. These all instilled an appreciation for all artifacts that were crafted by hand with love and expertise.
In your most recent role, you were Pook & Pook’s exhibition designer. Can you explain what that job entailed and why it’s important to give thought to how an auction is presented at preview?
Creating an auction preview is challenging with a huge array of items from all periods of history. Composing vignettes of different styles and periods whether it’s Federal, Queen Anne, Chippendale or other Early Americana, you must create a visual experience that is captivating the minute you enter the exhibition. With most auctions including more than 1,000 lots, the showcase displays are often a combination of different art forms. Mixing a diminutive Weber box with a whimsical Schimmel, a chalkware cat, perhaps a pair of silhouettes or intricate butter molds — they must all contribute to a pleasing visual experience.
When we have a single-owner estate auction, it’s important in presenting a recreation of a family’s treasured items from their homes. It’s almost like a production designer tasked with recreating a vintage scene accurately. When family members come in to preview and reconnect with beautiful family mementos, it is satisfying to hear them recollect stories and the histories on many pieces — a grandfather’s favorite Windsor chair or portraits of generations past.
Preview installation, Americana & International auction, October 5-7, 2022. Hannah Schneider photo.
Are there elements — line, color, shape, size — that come into play as you craft a layout, or things you keep in mind as you start to assemble a preview?
My chief challenge was to create a visual flow for both the showcases to the walls of art. A static display does not engage the viewer. My recipe was mixing the color of historical blue Staffordshire with the gleam of a silver creamer or vase or perhaps with English brass candlesticks or collection of snuff boxes. With art, I like to mix it up on a large expanse of wall. I’d hang a Baum or Coppedge in the center between a pair of oil on canvas portraits, with an array of needlework samplers and perhaps some hanging baskets or trade signs.
Any challenges that might not occur to the average auction-previewer?
Sometimes you have an object or piece of furniture that, no matter what, the presentation doesn’t work. In that case, I walk away from it for several days. Usually, with furniture, I’ll give it its very own space and add other elements to it — a beautiful patchwork quilt, a delicate basket and a firkin or piece of stoneware and suddenly it works!
In the span of your years-long tenure at Pook & Pook, are there any previews that you felt were particularly well received, or which will stand out in your mind for how they looked?
One of my favorites was the collection of Margaret Schiffer in 2023. The quality, rarity and beauty of her pieces created such a unique glimpse into the history and provenance of all the treasures. Some of my favorite previews were those that had surprises — the discovery of secret drawers, a hidden love letter tucked away, a $100 bill wedged into a crack — they all make you wonder about the object’s history.
—Madelia Hickman Ring
