November 21, 2025: Fall Premier Americana: Day Two Featuring The Benny Long Collection
Jeffrey S. Evans & Assoc., Inc. info@jeffreysevans.com
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BARB FAMILY, SHENANDOAH CO., SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VIRGINIA DIMINUTIVE PAINT-DECORATED BENTWOOD OVAL BOX, yellow pine and poplar, covered form of lapped construction secured with wire staples and wire nails. Retains its original polychrome decoration, the cover featuring a central 12-petal rosette within a dotted and plain leaf border on the top and dotted cat's eye devices around the flange, each side of the box having a running vine with dotted and plain leaves matching the cover border, all on a dark olive green ground. Retains an excellent dry original surface. The Barb family, Mt. Clifton/Hepners area, Shenandoah Co., VA. Together with a sixth-plate daguerreotype purchased with the box, depicting a seated young lady, possibly Roseanna Moomaw (1839-1886), daughter of George W. Moomaw Sr. and Susanna Hepner, see provenance below. Two pieces total. Circa 1820. 2 3/4" H, 5 5/8" x 9 1/2".
Literature: Parallels Garvin - The Pennsylvania German Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, p. 13, fig. 15; and Little - Neat and Tidy, p. 99, fig. 103. See Pook & Pook - The Pioneer Americana Collection of Dr. & Mrs. Donald Shelley, April 20-21, 2007, lot 739 for an example signed and inscribed by Jacob Barb.
Catalogue Note: The present previously unrecorded box represents a not-before-seen smallest size. It is from a small but important group of paint-decorated boxes and chests produced by multiple generations of the Barb family in Shenandoah County, Virginia, from the 1780s to the 1830s. Attribution for the group is based on the box formerly in the Donald Shelley collection, referenced above, which bears the inked inscription "Jacob Barb This 24th day of August 1831". The Moomaw family's provenance for this box provides additional evidence that the Barb family produced the group.
This newly discovered example brings the current number known to 12 oval boxes in four sizes, six of which have sold through our gallery, and two yellow pine chests without drawers. Two of the boxes reside in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Colonial Williamsburg. Both were initially attributed to Pennsylvania, but have now been correctly reattributed. Like this example, four of the other boxes descended directly in families living in Shenandoah County. Both chests also carry provenance from Shenandoah County families. Research is currently underway in preparation for an article on this group.
In good as-found condition, with no breaks or losses, exhibiting typical oxidation and paint losses.
From the collection of Benny Long, New Market, VA.
Purchased at the Casper Moomaw (1895-1982) estate auction, Hepners, VA.
Descended from his parents, John Henry Moomaw (1854-1937) and Sarah H. Tusing Moomaw (1858-1940).
Parents David Moomaw (1832-1916) and Mary Barb Moomaw (1835-1882).
Parents George W. Moomaw Sr. (1804-1884) and Susanna Hepner (1802-1884).
Note: The Hepner/Moomaw family farm, where the present box resided, is adjacent to the Barb family farm and Morning Star Lutheran Church, where much of the family is buried.
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