Seacoast History Blog #39
March 22, 2009  

There are a number of nice items going on the block – over 100 in all. But based on the photo included, we’ve seen them all before – bottles, tin logo trays, a nice advertising sign, the usual metal pipe holder with the Frank Jones stamp. All of the items in the photo appear on eBay routinely and might be worth a few hundred bucks from what I’ve seen, but never bid on.

READ: Another Frank Jones item saved

The unique item, the one that drew Mark’s attention, is a small hammered metal nameplate. The plate, just a few inches across, has Frank Jones name on it and the address 61 Market Street. So unlike almost all other Frank Jones items, this one relates to the man, not the brewery he named after himself.

If memory serves (and you can look this up in Ray Brighton’s biography) Jones was running a stove shop when he lived on Market Street. This was at the very beginning of his rise from barefoot farmboy from Barrington to robber baron, Portsmouth mayor, congressman, and millionaire.

As I recall, Frank was in partnership with one of his brothers, and in competition with another brother who ran a similar shop across the street. We see instances of Jones entrepreneurial genius earlier when he goes around collecting old rags, stores them in a barn, and sells the lot of them for thousands of dollars. But it is in the stove shop, I believe, that Jones turns from clever to ruthless. Apparently he borrows a few thousand from his brother Hiram and, according to Brighton, never pays it back. Hiram, for reasons unknown, goes into the privy at their Barrington homestead and slits his own throat with a razor. Frank then marries Hiram’s widow.

As with so many Portsmouth stories, this one has TV mini-series written all over it – with one fatal flaw. There is no tragic ending. Frank Jones never gets his comeuppance. He goes on to be a greedy, self-serving, powerful and enormously wealthy tycoon. He apparently gets the power, the girls, the real estate, the racehorses, the mansions, the giant summer hotels – all free and clear.

I don’t know why I suspect that Frankie had something to do with Hiram’s death. We’re way into rumor territory here. Perhaps he was just being a good provider when he married his dead brother’s wife. It happened often back in the day.

Like so many wealthy figures of that era (and now) Frank Jones remains elusive. We have his portraits and a few photographs, but no real sense of the man. We have his gold tipped cane at the Portsmouth Historical Society and other relics. But this little nameplate is a rare item for it’s personal connection to Jones. It shows him announcing his importance if only in a small way. Look out Portsmouth, it seems to say, Frank Jones is coming!

The dealer selling the items is from North Berwick. I wrote to a few history types to see if anyone knows whose collection is going on the block. No one did. The dealer writes: "I am in the process of beginning to sell off one of the most extensive private collections of Frank Jones Brewery memorabilia I have ever seen."

I don’t know if anyone will pay the asking price of $1,200. I can’t, and our impoverished local museums don’t have that kind of cash. So it will likely go to another collector, if it goes at all.

"Makes me sad to see things like this go on the auction block," Mark wrote in his email. "It deserves to be on display at the Historical Society."

I agree. And perhaps that’s why I look at eBay less and less these days. It’s such a shame to see great collections built up, and then broken up and sold off. I’ve got half a dozen small collections going and it never occurs to me to sell these artifacts. I just assume they will be donated to whatever institution wants them. The idea of selling bits of history makes no sense to me. I watch "Antiques Roadshow" for the info, but find the pricing of the items sickening.

But giving artifacts away, especially minor items like this, may be difficult in the future. Small history museums are so strapped for space and funds that they are getting picky about what they can afford to accession. That’s because a free collection is not free. It takes time to conserve and document the stuff, and the archival storage boxes are incredibly expensive. There needs to be space to store and display the artifacts. And building an exhibit is also very costly, as is advertising it, then putting it back into storage – and then maintaining it forever.

Giving away a collection is like giving away a kid. Whoever gets the kid has to love it and support it for life. So museums are beginning to ask donors to also give some money that will support the cost of nurturing the gift.

That’s probably why no one has yet built a good Frank Jones exhibit. It is something we should definitely do since his brewery is among the few things for which this city was renowned. If it is ever going to happen, it will likely come from a collector, or in a perfect world, from the people who earn money brewing and selling beer in the Seacoast today.

So for now, maybe this collector should sell to another collector. Perhaps the next one will have the compassion and the cash to donate it to a public museum. With the economy on the skids, collectors will likely be dumping some great items this year. Perhaps a few will consider a tax deductible gift instead of greenbacks.

© 2009 by J. Dennis Robinson, All rights reserved.