Of unusually petite and delightful style. Delicate open-form, hung with three tiers of bells, surmounted by Star-of-David form. Height: 6 inches.
AUCTION 51 |
Thursday, June 23rd,
2011 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts Graphic & Ceremonial Art Including: The Alfonso Cassuto Collection of Iberian Books, Part II
Lot 380
EXCEPTIONAL PAIR OF AMERICAN SILVER TORAH FINIALS.
Of unusually petite and delightful style. Delicate open-form, hung with three tiers of bells, surmounted by Star-of-David form. Height: 6 inches.
circa 1825
Est: $60,000 - $70,000
Inscribed along rim: "A.H. Abrahams, Charleston, So. Ca.
Alexander Hezekiel Abrahams was born in Bremen, Germany in 1801. His wife Hannah Abrahams (1809-75) operated her own dry-goods store and was one of only a small number of independent Charleston businesswomen. Alexander died on the 16th October, 1871 in Charleston and is buried in the city's Beth Elo-him Cemetery.
These important finials are illustrated in J. Weinstein’s “A Collectors Guide to Judaica” (1985), color plate no. X.
The pioneer Hebrew Congregations of pre- and post-colonial America commissioned a number of fine silver synagogue appurtenances, many of which are still extant. However from the late 18th-century until the mass migration of Jews to America in the late 19th-century, only a bare handful of silver Judaica were fashioned in the United States. Consequently, 19th-century Americn Jewish ceremonial objects are of the greatest rarity.