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  A VISIT WITH: Linda Stamm, President, Winter Associates, Inc.,
estate appraisers and auctioneers

   Winter Associates has been in the estate appraisal and auction business in Plainville since 1979. Linda Stamm, who helped start the firm and runs it today, is quick to give credit to her staff for the firm’s double-pronged reputation for honesty and accuracy. Talk to the members of her team and you’ll quickly be made to understand how Linda sets the tone, in every positive way, for everything that happens at Winter Associates.
  We wanted to find out a bit about where Linda Stamm was coming from, what made her unique as an auction house owner.

    Linda was born and brought up in Newington. Her family had no particular interest in antiques. It was at Smith College, the result of an American Studies class, that Linda got involved in a yearlong seminar at Historic Deerfield. That experience, she claims, gave her a visceral awarenessof the people of long ago who crafted the objects we now call antiques. For her Junior year Linda attended Connecticut College, where she was able to enter an internship program at Yale University Art Museum that exposed her to the leading edge of in-depth research.


Tavern table, c. 1740, pine oval top, birch splay-leg base, interesting hand forged semicircular wrought iron repairs to stabilize fracture in top, molded box stretcher.


William and Mary highboy, c. 1690-1720, red hard pine case, projecting cornice over case with two short drawers and three graduated long drawers, over base with short drawer flanked by pair of square drawers, six trumpet turned legs with ball feet early finish under late 19th C. shellac, original tear drop brass pulls and hardware, early script scratched into bottom of long drawer reading in part "Stephen Minor" and "__(?)Son."

   A big part of the estate auction business, Linda believes, is psychological.  “People who are downsizing,” she explains, “often become decision weary when it comes time to decide what to keep and what to sell. What really hurts some people is the realization that the next generation in their family isn’t interested in their antiques. I tell them to think of Winter Associates as an adoption agency where their treasures can find new people who will feel the sense of discovery and joy that they did.”
In its over thirty five years of business, Winters Associates has auctioned off some impressive Connecticut antiques, including a pair of Amos Doolittle copper engravingsthat were estimated at $50K for the pair but went for just shy of $500K for the both, including buyer’s premium.  Linda tells of a family in Southbury whose house went back to the 18th century.  The house had been passed down from one generation to another and was full of furniture and furnishings from the earliest days that had been kept inoriginal condition. During the cataloging phase of the sale,Linda was going through boxes found in the attic. One box held a collection of letters.“They were by a Civil War soldier writing home to his wife,” she recalls. “They mentioned battles he was in and how much he was looking forward to coming home.  Then I came across an envelope in a different hand. It was to his wifefrom the chaplain of her husband’s unit. The chaplain wrote that her husbandhad been wounded, but not grievously, and was on his way to the hospital. The next letter in the stack was also from the chaplain, and when I picked it up I could feel there was something in it. I turned the envelope upside down and a twisted piece of lead fell out. In the letter the chaplain said he was sad to inform herthat her husband had succumbed to the infection and that he was including with the letter the bullet that was removed from his body.”  The letters, including the bullet, sold at auction for $10K.
   Over the years, Linda has shared her experiences and expertise with many people. She has lectured on antiques for Old Sturbridge Village’s Antique Collectors Weekend and for numerous historical societies, retirement communities and clubs in the Greater `Hartford area.


Arthur Fitzwillaim Tait (English-American, 1819-1905), oil on board, signed and dated "A F Tait 66" LR, depicting English Pointer in meadow landscape searching for quail in foreground, sloping ground with grasses and wildflowers, cloudy sky, signed verso
"No. 464, A F Tait, Morrisania Westchester N.Y. 1866" period carved gilt frame.
Blanket chest, Pennsylvania, early 19th C., red pine, mustard painted finish with vine decoration, red and ebonized trim, lid with applied molding, opens to reveal single large compartment and covered til at left, ebonized tapered and compressed ball feet.

The items pictured here will be at auction on
Monday, March 27th, 2017. The full catalogue for the sale with photos,
descriptions and estimates will be available on line at our web site www.auctionsappraisers.com ten days before the sale.


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