Clarence Spohn Ephrata Collection Artifacts | Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections

By Rachel Grove Rohrbaugh

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Collection Overview

Title: Clarence Spohn Ephrata Collection Artifacts

Predominant Dates:c. 1750-1800

ID: RG01/Art-0004

Primary Creator: Ephrata Cloister

Extent: 8.0 Items

Date Acquired: 04/00/2019

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Item descriptions and numbers taken from Spohn's personal inventory.

Administrative Information

Repository: Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections

Acquisition Method: Purchase by the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies

Related Materials: For more information please see https://libraryguides.etown.edu/spohn.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Item:

[Item Spohn 1675: Softwood Love Feast or Communion Waiter or Tray],
[Item Spohn 1676: Turned Walnut Bread Paten, c. 1780],
[Item Spohn 1677: Turned Walnut Communion Chalice, c. 1780],
[Item Spohn 1724: Hand Painted Milk Glass Barber's Bottle],
[Item Spohn 1727: Redware Deep Pie Plate],
[Item Spohn 1728: Tin Teapot],
[Item Spohn 2130: Hand-carved Wooden Printer's Woodcut of the Seal of the Ephrata Community, 1766],
[Item Spohn 2224: Hand-carved Woodcut of Initial Block "W", c. 1764],
[All]

Item Spohn 1675: Softwood Love Feast or Communion Waiter or Tray: Softwood Love Feast or Communion Waiter or Tray, made by Samuel Zerfass (born 1802, died 1872), Ephrata, Pa. for the German Seventh Day Baptist Congregation at Ephrata, rectangular shape with applied gallery across back and sides, side rails with oval cutout handle, gallery rails are nailed to bottom, gallery rails are dovetailed in back corners, 31"W x 18-1/4"D x 3-3/8"H. [Provenance: originally from the Ephrata Cloister, purchased at the public auction at Farmersville Fire Hall, T. Glenn Horst & Son, Inc., consigned by Daniel S. & Viola Kachel, Ephrata, Pa., Mr. Kachel was one of the last eleven members of the Ephrata Cloister and until 1969 lived on the grounds of the Ephrata Cloister with his father Reuben Kachel. Daniel Kachel's mother was M. Kathryn (nee Zerfass) Kachel (b. 1882, d. 1953) the granddaughter of the maker Samuel Zerfass (b. 1803, d. 1872). This tray along with a second identical tray in the collection of the historic Ephrata Cloister descended in the Zerfass family. In the early 1960s Mr. Kachel donated one of the two trays to the Ephrata Cloister in memory of his late mother and retained the second. According to the account book of Samuel Zerfass in the collection of the Ephrata Cloister the "2 waiters" were made for the Ephrata Society at a cost of 56 1/2 cents each. (Reference "Journal of The Historical Society of the Cocalico Valley", Volume XV, 1990, pages 15-16.).]
Item Spohn 1676: Turned Walnut Bread Paten, c. 1780: Mid-to-Late Eighteenth Century Turned Walnut Bread Paten originally from the Ephrata Cloister and later from the Snow Hill Community, Quincy, Franklin Co., Pa., two piece, pedestaled base with round foot with concentric turnings on top surface of foot, round tray with molded edge, 10-3/16" x 9-5/8"3-7/8"H. [Provenance: purchased at public auction held at Horst Auction Center, of the contents of the "Snow Hill Nunnery", Quincy, Franklin Co., Pa. Originally from the Ephrata Cloister congregation and transferred to the Snow Hill Congregation along with chalice #1677 in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Originally part of a communion service consisting of two walnut chalices, two cherry chalices and two walnut pattens, one of each have remained at the Ephrata Cloister while their mates were sent to Snow Hill. This walnut patten and the walnut chalice #1677 were sold at the public auction of the contents of the Snow Hill Nunnery in August 1997.
Item Spohn 1677: Turned Walnut Communion Chalice, c. 1780: Mid-to-Late Eighteenth Century Turned Walnut Communion Chalice, originally from the Ephrata Cloister and later from the Snow Hill Congregation, Quincy, Franklin Co., Pa., pedestaled with round foot having concentric turnings on top surface of foot, stem with suppressed ball-shaped motif, cup with rounded bottom, straight sides with slightly flared rim, 4-1/4"DIA, 8-5/16"H. [Provenance: purchased at public auction, Horst Auction Center, at the public auction of the contents of the "Snow Hill Nunnery", Quincy, Franklin Co., Pa. This chalice was originally from the Ephrata Cloister and was transferred in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century to the Snow Hill Congregation, Quincy, Franklin Co., Pa. The chalice was one of a pair of walnut chalices, two cherry chalices and two walnut bread patens (1 being #1676) originally made for the Ephrata Cloister. One of each remains in the collection of the Ephrata Cloister. One Bread Patten #1676 and this chalice were sold at the public auction of the contents of the Snow Hill Nunnery in August 1997, the other cherry chalice remains in the possession of the Snow Hill Congregation.]
Item Spohn 1724: Hand Painted Milk Glass Barber's Bottle: Hand Painted Milk Glass Barber's Bottle belonging to "S. G. Zerfass", light blue painted ground with small scrolled ribbon having white back ground and outlined in brown with brown lettering - "S. G. Zerfass", ribbon is surrounded by hand painted daisy floral design, brown striping around sides, round shape with sides tapering toward a concave shoulder with a high cylindrical neck ends in a threaded collar, 9-1/2"H. [Provenance: purchased at public auction, Horst Auction Center, the estate auction of the belongings of Mary (nee Shimp) Zerfass wife of Theodore Zerfass son of Rev. Zerfass. This bottle belonged to the Rev. Samuel G. Zerfass (d. 1929), last minister of the German Seventh Day Baptist Congregation at the Ephrata Cloister.]
Item Spohn 1727: Redware Deep Pie Plate: Redware Deep Pie Plate, round with flat bottom with large incised "Z", sides are straight and flare out to a broad molded rim, interior is glazed resulting in a dark brown ground, 10-3/16"DIA, 2-3/8"H. [Provenance: Originally from the Ephrata Cloister, purchased at T. Glenn Horst & Son public auction, consigned to the auction by Mrs. Mary (nee Shimp) Zerfass, wife of Theodore Zerfass one of the last members of the Ephrata Cloister. Several of these plates had descended in the Zerfass family and shards with the letter "Z" on have also been excavated at the Ephrata Cloister.]
Item Spohn 1728: Tin Teapot: Tin Teapot with hinged conical-shaped lid having a small double scrolled tin finial, pot has a flat bottom with straight sides tapering toward top rim, tapered stick spout having a stamped rayed motif around spout on side of pot, tin handle mount on side of pot and fitted with a turned walnut wood handle with simple incised line banding, 5-1/8"DIA at base, 9-1/2"H. [Provenance: originally from the Ephrata Cloister, purchased at the public auction at Farmersville Fire Hall, T. Glenn Horst & Son, consigned by Daniel S. & Viola Kachel, Ephrata, Pa., Mr. Kachel was one of the last eleven members of the Ephrata Cloister and until 1969 lived on the grounds of the Ephrata Cloister with his father Reuben Kachel.]
Item Spohn 2130: Hand-carved Wooden Printer's Woodcut of the Seal of the Ephrata Community, 1766: Square block with round seal with inscription around border "Invenit Hirundo Nidum, Jehova Altaria Tua 84" with "Deliciae Ephratenses" across bottom, center design consists of a central altar inscribed "Non Omnibus Nimul.,"altar flanked by shrub, trees and a house with smoke coming out of chimney, on top of altar is a nest of five baby pelicans with mother pelican in flight hovering over babies with branch in her beak, 3-3/16"W x 3-1/4"x 1"H, block is ink stained and shows significant wear, a small burn mark is found on the right side of the block with a 1" long crack extending in from right side. [Provenance: acquired through Clarence Wolfe of MacManus & Sons, agent for owner Michael Zinman, Ardsley, N. Y. Mr. Zinman acquired the woodcut at Sotheby's Auction House, New York, at their Jun. 26, 2001 auction (one of a number of woodcuts contained in lot #156). The block is one of two known Ephrata woodcuts, the only surviving pieces of printing equipment, other than the lead type found in archeological explorations at the Cloister, known to exist, and therefore is extremely important both to the history of Ephrata printing as well as to the history of the Ephrata Cloister. The woodcut was used in two Ephrata imprints: (1) the 1766 "Paradisisches Wunder-Spiel, Welches sich In diesen letzten Zeiten und Tagen in denne Abendlandischen Welt-Theilen...", illustration appears on the book's title page; (2) the ca. 1783 Broadside which serves a memorial of Brother Amos, appears in the top center of the piece. The woodcut is listed in Reilly's "A Dictionary of Colonial American Printers' Ornaments & Illustrations", published in 1975, by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass., page 216, illustration 969.
Item Spohn 2224: Hand-carved Woodcut of Initial Block "W", c. 1764: Circa 1764 hand-carved woodcut of initial block "W" with an early sail ship in background with a serpent scrolled up along the inside of the letter W's right leg, 2-5/8" square, 13/16" high, the left edge of the block has a 1-1/4" diagonal crack extending in from the block's side and shows evidence of having been exposed to fire on its back, the back has overall erratic gouge marks. [Provenance: The woodcut was acquired from Clarence Wolf of George S. MacManus Co., Bryn Mawr, Pa., agent for the owner Michael Zinman of Ardsley, New York. Mr. Zinman acquired the woodcut at Sotheby's Auction House, New York,at their Jun. 26, 2001 auction (one of a lot of printer's woodcuts). The woodcut was used in the printing of a broadside entitled "Lebens-Regul Wie sie zu Rom aus Pabstlichen Befehl an der Pabstlichen Cantzley-Thur angeschrieben Stehet..." attributed to the press of the Ephrata Brotherhood by Charles Hildeburn, ca. 1764. The broadside is described by Doll and Funke as containing eighteen rules in Latin and German taken from the Bible, with footnotes indicating the Bible test; followed by a German poem of eighteen lines in two columns, paraphrasing the above rules. The broadside is reportedly folio in size. Two copies of the broadside were known to exist, one in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (unable to locate in late 1980s) and a second in the American Baptist Historical Society, Chester, Pa. (located in 1944 by Funke & Doll, historical society no longer known to exist), Broadside identified as Doll/Funke #405, Hildeburn #2010 and Evans #9709. The woodcut is listed in Reilly's "A Dictionary of Colonial American Printers' Ornaments & Illustrations" published in 1975 by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass., page 66, illustration #351.]