Southern Folk Artist & Antiques Dealer/Collector: Today's Purchases

A pair of ca, 1850 silver plate Rococo Revival goblets engraved Sarah F. Terry of Alabama

Because I have been out of the loop for few months my "Today's Purchases have been piling up. The items I'm blogging about today was purchase about 2 months ago. Both have connections with Antebellum Alabama. First up is a pair of ca, 1850 silver plate Rococo Revival silver plate goblets engraved on each is "Sarah F. Terry" of Talladega Alabama

The goblets are engraved with grape leafs and vine a popular motif used on mid 19th century Rococo Revival silver. I placed the goblets on my Federal Huntboard in my dinning room and have made ice cold mint juleps in them. They have worked out perfectly!

A pair of ca, 1850 silver plate Rococo Revival goblets possibly made in Alabama and belonging to Sarah F. Austin Terry born in 1808 or 9 marred to Josiah Terry on 12 Sep 1825 and lived in Talladega, Co Alabama the pair of goblets descended thru the family

A pair of ca, 1850 silver plate Rococo Revival goblets engraved Sarah F. Terry of Alabama

Meek, A. B. Songs and Poems of the South. Mobile: S. H. Goetzel & Co., 1857.

Alexander Beaufort Meek

Alexander Beaufort Meek (1814-1865) was a journalist, poet, and historian, as well as an attorney and politician. Meek represented Mobile in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1853 to 1855 and was Speaker of the House from 1859 to 1861.

A. B. Meek was born in Columbia, S.C., the oldest of ten children. His family moved to Tuscaloosa, Ala., when he was about five. As a boy, he was a voracious reader of newspapers, especially literary ones, smuggling them into his classes folded up to a size that would fit inside a schoolbook. He began writing poetry in his teens. Meek attended the University of Georgia but transferred to the University of Alabama when it opened in 1831, graduating with an AB in 1833 and earning an MA in 1836. Meek was admitted to the bar at Tuscaloosa in 1835. In early 1836, he volunteered for military service in the Seminole War in Florida. Meek was a Jacksonian Democrat and was involved in politics. He was appointed several times to state legal offices, mostly to fill out unexpired terms. He also served as law clerk for former Tuscaloosan Seth Barton, who was solicitor of the United States Treasury under President James K. Polk. In 1846, Meek was appointed Federal Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile, which became his residence for nearly twenty years. Meek was elected twice to the state legislature from Mobile. In his first term, he sponsored the bill to establish free public schools in Alabama. In his second term, he was elected Speaker of the House.

In 1835, Meek began editing and publishing the Tuscaloosa-based Democratic newspaper, the Flag of the Union. In 1839, Meek became the founder and editor of The Southron, a short-lived literary monthly in which he laid out his theories for Southern literature. During this period, he also published poems in several Southern literary newspapers. From 1851 to 1853, Meek was an associate of Thaddeus Sanford, editor of the Mobile Register, which published many of his poems. He was also a popular orator, speaking on topics related to Southwestern history. In 1855, Meek published his book-length poem, The Red Eagle, about William Weatherford, Andrew Jackson, and the Creek War of 1813. In 1857, he published two more books, a collection of poems and lyrics about the South and a prose work on Southwestern history, which included several of his orations on the subject. In 1863, Meek moved to Columbus, Miss., to live with the family of his younger brother who was serving in the military. In September 1864 he married Eliza Jane Cannon, his brother's mother-in-law. He died there two years later of heart failure. His lifelong project, a history of Alabama, was never published.

A pair of circa 1820-1830 English Regency Mahogany side chairs.

To give you a peek into some of my up and coming "Today's Purchases" Last weekend has to be one of the best estate sales I have attended when it comes to prices. I got a lot of period bargains for pennies on the dollar.

This was not my best deal of the sale but I bought a pair of circa 1820-1830 English Regency Mahogany side chairs. Can you believe I paid $10. for each chair! That's right 10 bucks each.

The chair are a beautiful aged Mahogany. On delicate turned Sheridan legs. The backs of the chairs have a graceful carved and pierced Neoclassical Greek Revival Anthemion also known as a Palmette or Honeysuckle. I placed them in my bedroom on each side of a American Federal wish stand. They look great! I'm not crazy about the upholstery as I refer to this kind of fabric and Grandmaws bargain basement special but you can't be picky when you are getting a pair of 1820's Mahogany chairs for $20. One day I would like to upholster them in a French powder blue silk. I think the contrast of the deep Mahogany and dusty blue would look great on the chairs.