BUT WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT FILLING SEATS on fire apparatus. “Old Jake” is a weathervane that stood watch over a firehouse in Winchester, Virginia, for nearly 140 years. The Rouss Fire Company in Winchester wants to sell Old Jake to pay for a new firehouse and perhaps some new apparatus along with it.
A new firehouse from just selling a weathervane? They’re serious. Some estimates of its value range from $3 million to $5 million and they’re willing to part with it for that much. Unfortunately, when it went on the auction block Saturday (Jan. 24) it failed to make the minimum bid that they had reserved on it at Sotheby’s New York auction room. The highest bid received was $2.1 million.
Sotheby’s catalogue carried the following description:
(The) most important, and perhaps the earliest, weathervane to appear on the auction market in recent history, A Rare and Important Molded Copper Fireman “Old Jake” Weathervane Made for the Union Fire Hall, now Charley Rouss Fire Company, Winchester, Virginia, dating to circa 1850, which is estimated at $3/5 million. “Old Jake,” as the weathervane has long been called, is unprecedented in its quality, form, and scale – measuring over six feet high and six feet wide – and has topped the Charley Rouss Fire Company since just after the Civil War. After almost 140 years above the skyline of Winchester, Virginia, the weathervane is being sold to raise funds for new fire equipment and the potential construction of a new firehouse.
“Old Jake” depicts a fireman with intricately detailed flowing ribbons at his neck and horn in hand – with the other hand he bravely points to danger. The work was first mentioned in the records of the then-named Union Fire Company of Winchester, Virginia, in 1871.
After failing to reach the undisclosed minimum, the fire company has not decided what their next move will be.
photo by Brandon Jones
The summary of Saturday’s bidding along with a historical timeline of the Rouss Fire Company is carried in the Winchester Star HERE.
The Rouss Fire Company WEBSITE (with lots of good history).
Recent Comments