I was recently going through my Black Heritage files and came across a program for the Annual Kiwanis Club Minstrel Show. To my chagrin, my father-in-law, Tom Thurlow, Sr., was the Interlocutor. This meant he was the straight man for four Kiwanians in blackface performing as dim-witted buffoons. Most of the men listed in the program were well known men in the community. My father-in-law had high standards of behavior but he, like the other Kiwanians, seemed to be blind to the insensitivity of black-face performances.
An early form of theater, Minstrel Shows, began in New York with white performers who blacken their faces and mimicked enslaved Africans on Southern Plantations.
I was familiar with the term Jim Crow of “Jim Crow Laws” but today it is easier to go deeper with the Internet.
After the years of Reconstruction following the Civil War ended in 1877, it did not take southerners long to figure out how to create a caste system by keeping the races separate. The laws to enforce the separation were called “Jim Crow.”
I was not aware Jim Crow was a Minstrel Show character created by Thomas Dartmouth Rice.
In 1962 the Stuart High School was located on East Ocean Boulevard and in later years was the location of School Board meetings.
This particular Kiwanis Minstrel Show took place in 1962, the year Tom Thurlow. Jr/ and I were married.
Since I grew up in Gainesville, Florida, during the era of segregation and Jim Crow, I never had Black friends. It was not until I started writing books that I developed friendships with members of the Christie family, the family of Retha Rae Meues, and Harvey Poole of Belle Glade. I still did not have a close personal friend.
Charlene Thompson, who grew up in Jensen’s “Tick Ridge,” contacted me because she knew my book, Jensen and Eden, included this neighborhood. She visited and we became close friends.
Charlene came for a visit almost every Sunday afternoon for about three years.
Charlene is a history buff like I am. She is an excellent researcher and genealogist. She knows me better than almost anyone else and having her as a friend has been wonderful.
When I asked her if she thought publishing a blog on the Kiwanis Club’s Minstrel Shows and the insensitivity of community leaders to the feelings of the Black community, she agreed the story would be an important reminder.
The Kiwanis Club of Stuart soon became aware of their insensitivity. My father-in-law received a letter of complaint from a white woman who said the club should be “ashamed.” Soon they realized the truth of the accusation.
As reported in an earlier blog the Woman’s Club of Stuart changed its plans to put the statue Abundance in Haney Circle. Instead it was placed on the east lawn of the Martin County Courthouse.
After languishing in a New York City warehouse for years, Abundance arrived in Stuart on a moving truck in 1949,
Rather than offend those who protested, Abundance was placed on the east lawn of the Martin County Courthouse.
When the East Wing of the Martin County Courthouse was added in 1960, Abundance had to relinquish her spot.
On July 21, 1961, Ed Gluckler photographed Abundance neglected and lying on her back in a sand lot behind the city garage on South Flagler.
When the east wing of the courthouse was constructed in 1960 the statue abundance had to be removed.
In 1961, Abundance was placed in Memorial Park by the new Park Superintendent , Englishman Bill Ambler. The Woman’s Club once again chipped in on the cost of installation and landscaping. Although Abundance was beautiful and worth thousands of dollars, our community was not quite ready to give her the proper respect she deserved. The statue was a major focus for teenage pranks. The lesser ones — dressing her in brassieres and bathing suit tops. When Bill Ambler retired he lamented her being sprayed “every color” through the years.
Abundance stood in Memorial Park from October 18, 1961 until April 28, 1991.
Perhaps Abundance was hard to appreciate in her setting in Memorial Park where she stood for 20 years. The location, perhaps to her misfortune, was very close to the Stuart High School.
A postcard issued in the 1960 shows the beautiful flowers planted by Bill Ambler. Although he knew nothing about Florida horticulture when he was hired, the Woman’s Club of Stuart help pay for him to attend seminars and short courses on tropical landscaping.
This postcard showing Abundance was available in the 1960s.
During the revitalization of downtown Stuart, the City of Stuart voted to relocate Abundance to Haney Circle where the Woman’s Club originally planned to place her. Peter Jefferson designed the necessary concrete work with a sidewalk encircling the fountain. Its installation was celebrated in 1991
This snapshot shows the moment Abundance was unveiled in Haney Circle.Tenants in buildings come and go, but Abundance remains in Haney Circle.
Today, anyone who walks down Osceola Street in Historic Downtown Stuart will encounter our Lady Abundance.
The Woman’s Club of Stuart was working with Fredericka and Felix Williams and Lizzie Mae Allen, not only in securing the statue “Abundance” but also in improving parks and other facilities in East Stuart.
This photograph of Fredericka and Felix Williams with Lizzie Mae Allen was in Aura Fike Jones’ Woman’s Club scrapbook book. It is important to have a quality photograph of these civic leaders of Stuart’s Black community. I submitted it, along with many other photographs when we were gathering material for theMartin County Centennial Magazine published by Indian River Media.
I was thrilled when Michelle Moore-Burney, the designer, chose to feature the photograph predominantly on the front of the magazine. However, no names went with the people on the cover. The other unnamed people were, John W. Martin, Governor of Florida and Fingy Conners, who built a highway from West Palm Beach to Okeechobee City.
Now our Black leaders, the Williamses and Lizzie Mae Allen can be given their due.
Aura Fike Jones had her son-in-law, Clyde Coutant, photograph the Williamses and Lizzie Mae Allen because they were instrumental in collecting donations toward acquiring “Abundance” from their community. The itemized list of donations was included in her scrapbook.
These pages list many people who have disappeared for local history because of Jim Crow laws. It is important to have their names and participation in community improvement documented.
Lizzie Mae Allen was a leader who served on a number of boards and was active in her community and church. The home where the Allens lived and raised their children was the first residence in Stuart to receive an historic marker but the emphasis is on Lizzie’s husband, Tom Allen, and the white man who constructed the house. https://www.stuartfl.gov/660/7491/Thomas-J-Allen-Home-in-East-Stuart?activeLiveTab=widgets
Fredericka Williams was an outstanding woman who supported her husband in every way, was active in her community and church and taught six graders for 34 years. Felix Williams had a distinguished career and was more in the public eye. Felix A. Williams Elementary School is named in his honor. https://www.stuartfl.gov/664/Felix-A-Williams
Abundance, the statue for which Stuart’s Black community contributed hard earned cash, now stands in Haney Circle. .
It was the Woman’s Club 2025 tour of homes decorated for the holidays that caused me to revisit Aura Fike Jones’ scrapbook about acquiring the beautiful statue.
Here I am with my two daughters, Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch and Jenny Flaugh, picking up our tickets to attend the 16th Annual Holiday Home Tour for which I was “Honorary Chairman.” (Entailing zero responsibilities.) This photo was taken by club member Julia Sansevere.
The Woman’s Club of Stuart asked me to be the Honorary Chairman of their 16th Annual Holiday Home Tour that took place on December 7, 2025. This caused me to turn my attention to something I have in my files that few people have viewed. It is a scrapbook compiled by Aura Fike Jones who was responsible for acquiring the statue “Abundance” during her 1948-1950 term as President of the Woman’s Club.
Aura Fike Joes accepted the presidency of the Woman’s Club reluctantly but took on one of the most ambitious projects the club ever tackled.
Aura Jones was the widow of a Washington D. C. lawyer, Franklin Jones, who had homes in Washington D.C. as well as a lovely old home in Port Sewall. (The home was passed to her daughter and son-in-law, Dorothy and Clyde Coutant, then to her granddaughter Norie and her husband, Glenn Neff.)
It was during Aura Jones’ term as president that through of a series of unlikely coincidences the statue Abundance was acquired for the City of Stuart.
Aura Jones’ son, Larry, knew of the statue with a fountain languishing in a warehouse in New York. He also knew it could be acquired by paying its storage bill.
Maya Konolei was the artistic name of Mary Connally who sculpted Abundance.
Created by Manya Konolei in the Paris foundry that produced the Statue of Liberty, “Abundance” once held a place of honor at the Salon of Paris. After it was shown in the U.S. and received high praise, it was purchased by a collector who had grand plans for it. When the collector died, even Konolei lost track of the statue’s whereabouts.
In the late 1940s, the Woman’s Club of Stuart was at a low point and the City of Stuart was too. Everyone seemed depress and angry and people were suing each other for this and that. Aura thought acquiring the statue would be uplifting and would bring people together. A beautiful work of art would be a source of pride and bring attention to Martin County.
Although the statue was available at a bargain price, the City and County coffers were low and the Woman’s Club had very limited funds. In addition to paying the $2,000 storage bill, there was the cost of transporting and installing the statue that weighed several tons. Few thought Aura would be successful but, perhaps to humor her, the club agreed to pay the last $500 if the rest of the money could be raised.
The enthusiasm of Woman’s Club led the Martin County Commission to agree to pay for the cost of transporting the statue to Stuart. Money for the fountain trickled in from all segments of the community and the last $500 came from the club’s treasury.
Cynthia Burnette Haney was revered locally. Years earlier, Ethel Porter had dedicated a small portion of her land as “Haney Circle” in the middle of Seminole Street.
The original plan was to put the fountain in Haney Circle, a tiny park given to the City of Stuart to honor Cynthia Burnett Haney, an admired newspaperwoman, suffragist, and leader in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. This caused an uproar. People did not think a voluptuous goddess of wine was an appropriate way to honor Cynthia Haney.
The amused admiration of the truck driver is enough to explain everyone’s reaction to placing the fountain in Haney Circle..
The women changed their plans and got permission to put the fountain on the east side of the Martin County Courthouse.
This is the original location of Abundance.
A. Feit, the art dealer from New York who facilitated getting the statue, spoke to the 300 people who attended its dedication as did, Mary Hartman and Elizabeth Conrad.
At the dedication of Abundance on July 10 1949, Mary Hartman, Vice-President of the Woman’s Club, read a message from Aura Fike Jones who was at her home in Washington D.C. : “May this fountain become the symbol of the abundance of wisdom, talent and generosity which we claim in the building of our better community is my heartfelt wish.”
We have the photographs contained in the scrapbook compiled by Aura Fike Jones because Alice and Greg Luckhardt scanned them when there was an opportunity. The photographs were taken by Aura’s son-in-law, Clyde Coutant who was a commercial photographer at the time.
TWO MORE BLOGS RELATED TO THE STATUE ABUNDANCE WILL FOLLOW.
I recently visited the basement of the Stuart Heritage Museum that is entered from the back of the building. It was a beautiful day and when I looked toward the St. Lucie River, I admired the Seminole Chickee-like picnic pavilion.
So many years have passed since the chickee honoring Juanita Geary was built, some of the present leaders of Stuart Heritage are unaware of its significance and all planning and work involved in making it a reality.
After a house fire resulted in Juanita Geary’s death in 2003, Helen Engebretsen spearheaded the fundraising, planning and construction of Seminole chickee picnic pavilion dedicated to Juanita’s memory.
After Juanita Geary’s unexpected death resulting from space heater fire, her grieving friends wanted something to be done in her memory. Juanita was an early and active member of Stuart Heritage whose family tree includes a number of pioneer families—Stuart, Greene, Wells and DeBerry. At the time of her death Juanita had assumed the responsibility of the Stuart Heritage Museum gift shop. It included items made by the Seminole Indians in Ft. Pierce and the Brighton Reservation north of Lake Okeechobee. Juanita was especially interested in these, because the Seminole Indians often visited the south Florida towns where her family lived during her formative years.
Juanita Geary’s memorial chickee had to be placed far away from the 1901 building housing the Stuart Heritage Museum for safety reasons.
Helen Engebretsen spearheaded the effort to build the chickee as a memorial to Juanita. It was not easy. The City of Stuart required permitting and said that the Chickee had to be built near the St. Lucie River, a distance from the 1901 historic commercial building that houses the Stuart Heritage Museum. Donations were collected and contractors hired to pour a slab and build the wooden part of the pavilion. Finding Seminole Indians who specialized in authentic Sabal Palm thatching was a challenge. It is becoming a lost art.
A muralist from Okeechobee painted the fence that screens the trash dumpsters.
Juanita’s friends were saddened when garbage dumpsters were placed beside the chickee. More fund raising followed and a muralist was hired to paint an Everglades scene to improve the setting of the Seminole chickee pavilion.
Toley Alfred Engebretsen 1928-2023
Helen’s husband, Toley Engebretsen, was a longtime volunteer at the Stuart Heritage Museum serving on the board of directors of Stuart Heritage, Inc. beginning in 1996 and as president from 2012 until shortly before his death in 2023. http://Stuart Heritage Museum.com
This is a follow-up blog explaining why I, Sandra Thurlow, have been so interested in Serge Nekrassoff and his metal craft.
After returning from Travis Air Force Base in California in 1965, we built a house on Edgewood Drive in Stuart.
These jars of the powdered glass used for copper enameling were purchased from an estate. I am holding a little sifter used for dusting the power onto copper that has sprayed with a solution of gum arabic.
Knowing that I did not think caring for one little girl was enough to occupy my days, Tom purchased a kiln and many enameling supplies that were in a Rio estate liquidation.
This shows an upturn piece being counter enameled, meaning that the underside is ready to be fired. Without counter enameling the enamel on the face of a bowl will pop off.
Although, I knew nothing about copper enameling I thought I could learn. I bought “how-to” books and purchased additional supplies from art supply catalogues.
This stylized mosaic was make in 1967.
My earliest creation was prompted by a call of the Episcopal Church Women of St. Mary’s Church for “religious art.” I enlisted my friend Robby Robinson to cut a piece of Masonite in the shape of a stained glass window. I painted it black and glued enameled copper pieces on it.
Another mosaic was done to enter the Arts and Crafts exhibit at the Martin County Fair.The mosaic, although a bit garish, sits above eye-level on our family room book shelves. It is a reminder of what I did before I appointed myself “History Lady.”
After cleaning the copper, it is sprayed with gum arabic and dusted with enamel (that is really powered glass.) To fire your item, you open a roaring hot kiln and place your piece or in the case of mosaics—pieces inside. You wear an asbestos glove and use a special long forked instrument with a heat shield on its handle. You close the kiln door and use your judgement about the time you leave your piece or pieces in side. It is a dangerous balancing act. It is easy to over-fire and lose your work. You have to have fire-proof ceramic slabs where you can place your red hot items when you remove them from the kiln.
I longed to learn enameling from Serge Nekrassoff. One day when I ran into Serge and Mary Nekrassoff in a grocery store, I blurted out something about wanting to “apprentice.” I think that was the wrong word to use. Serge seemed horrified.
I was on my own with copper enameling. I experimented and played around. I used a mallet to shape shallow bowls but flat pieces were much easier. Bowls had to be “counter enameled” meaning that the bottom as well as the top had to be enameled. This was very tricky.
Through the years I made dozens of bridge prizes and gifts of copper enamel, I made Christmas tree ornaments for my Sunday school children .
Presented to Carol Newman as a thank you for teaching gymnastics.Given to Bryna Potsdam for her 40th Birthday.A typical bridge prize.After Tom’s parents died we reclaimed the dish we had given them for their 40th Anniversary and the little trays enameled with their prize winning sailboats from their Liverpool, N. Y. days.
On a trip abroad we met a man who owned a manufacturing plant in Findlay Ohio. After we got home he sent me a packet of large copper sheets. It was right after the Earth had been photographed from Apollo 17. I had one of the big sheets cut into pieces that would fit into my kiln and made a large plaque and called it “Earth Colors From Space.” It hung in our living room for a few years.
When I was checking on daughter, Jacqui, and Ed Lippisch’s home I discovered it hanging on their large screened porch.
Recently, I was in the home of Chuck Schad who was Tom Thurlow’s friend from Liverpool, NY. He and his wife, Audrey, moved to Stuart, after he was an usher in our wedding and met Tom’s brother-in-law, Dale Hudson, who asked if he wanted to work for what is now Seacoast Bank. I happened to look on the wall and saw a plate I gave when they repeated their wedding vows on their 25th Anniversary.
Chuck Schad poses next to the copper enameled plate given 41 years ago.
SO THIS EXPLAINS THE THURLOW INTEREST IN COPPER ENAMELING.
It was in a bright blue sky but this is the cloud I saw as I drove toward Boris and Lois Nekrassoff’s home on January 28, 1986.
After our children were more or less grown in the 1980s, my husband, Tom Thurlow, Jr., and I became collectors of all things connected to the history of Martin County. Our joint recreation involved going to museums, antique stores, lectures and collecting postcards, books, and various ephemera. Because we had a keen interest in copper enameling (to be explained in the next blog) we also collected Nekrassoff pieces when we found them in antique shops.
We knew Boris and Lois Nekrassoff because Lois founded Stuart’s first privately owned pharmacy, “The Prescription Shop,” and the two were well known in the community.
After the death of Boris’s parents he and Lois had the responsibility of disposing of their possessions. I called them to see if there were some enameled items for sale. They said, “yes” and invited me to their home to see what they had. It was a bright cold January morning and I will always remember what I saw in the sky as I passed the Martin County Golf Course. The day of the Challenger tragedy is etched in memories.
We bought the Senior Nekrassoff’s two acre property in 1986.
The rest of the morning is a blur but I do remember I purchased all of the two dozen or so enameled copper pieces the Nekrassoffs wanted to sell and this ultimately led to us also buying Boris’s parents two-acre property on Willoughby Creek. It was where Serge Nekrassoff built a concrete block house in 1951.
This is our best snapshot of the Nekrassoff house. Our daughter, Jacqui is posing astride a very unusual curving sabal palm.
The Nekrassoff property was a jungle. A pond, near St. Lucie Boulevard, that seemed to be spring-fed, had been enlarged by the Nekrassoffs. One of two enormous ficus trees on the property was taking over the pond. We loved the many fruit trees: lychee nuts, rose-apples, and several varieties of mango. Coconut trees abounded and so did decades of fallen nuts. Although there were many native pine trees, there were also invasive Melaleuca and Australian pines. The elderly Nekrassoffs probably enjoyed watching their property return to nature. They fed the birds and hosted a population of about 40 raccoons.
Ficus trees on the Nekrassoff property had grown to enormous proportions. One had taken over the pond near St. Lucie Boulevard.
The house had been neglected and wasn’t in a condition to rent it. What were we going to do with such a property? We slaved on it and communed with nature and the spirits of the Nekrassoffs.
Here son, Todd, and daughter, Jenny, pose in a bed of Aloe. Many varieties of plants had multiplied to “their heart’s content.”
In those days you could get permits to burn trash. We did this and learned that lighter pine fires grow so hot you can burn milk-filled coconuts.
Somehow, we managed to enjoy the hard work of cleaning up the overgrown Nekrassoff property but my husband, Tom , didn’t look too happy when I took this photo.
We had a lot of work to do if we wanted our investment to pay for itself. The kitchen wall had an underwater scene made with enameled fish and plants embedded in the plaster. There were enameled copper coverings on window sills.
Serge Nekrassoff had built a curving concrete wall for a terraced garden. Copper enameled fish were pressed into the concrete. There was a enameled copper covering on a grave marker for their beloved boxer.
Todd and his teenage friends cleared the pond of paper reed plants (papyrus) that choked it. They also had a lot of fun.
After we had a dock built, receiving an education doing so, and upgraded the kitchen, we had two different renters who liked features of the property. One had a small Whiticar boat he could keep at the dock.
Realizing that we were too interested in other things to hold on to the property, we sold it in 1989.
The former Nekrassoff property was divided into lovely residential properties with the owners sharing the pond.
In the early 1960s Jim and Joan Hutchinson lived among the Seminole Indians on the Brighton Reservation near Lake Okeechobee.
Jim and Joan Hutchinson built a home in Golden Gate not far from the Nekrassoff home on Willoughby Creek. As kindred artists they became friends and Serge taught both Jim and Joan the basics of copper enameling.
Jim Hutchinson gained fame as a fine artist and was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
Joan and Jim built their rustic home on Delmar Street in Golden Gate in stages.
I think I first heard about Joan and Jim from “Babe” Hudson, the mother of my brother-in-law, Dale Hudson. Mrs. Hudson was very worried about the “starving artists” who had been living on the Seminole Reservation at Brighton and now had a baby boy.
After Serge Nekrassoff taught Joan enameling skills, and allowed her to use his kiln, she began taking commissions to paint people’s homes on copper trays. Mrs. Hudson became a patron, commissioning Joan’s pieces for gifts for friends and relatives. Two of Joan’s trays have remained in our family. One is of the Thurlow home on Riverside Drive and one was of Dale and Mary Hudson’s home Krueger Parkway.
Joan Hutchinson painted the home of Jane and Tom Thurlow . The house, though much modified, still stands on Riverside Drive at the end of Hibiscus Avenue.This was Mary and Dales first home on Krueger Parkway. It has been demolished. Dale Hudson’s mother, Mrs. Dennis S. Hudson, Sr., commissioned the enameled tray .
I was able to photograph examples of Joan Hutchinson’s enameling but I did not know where I could find an example of Jim’s.
As is often the case, serendipity rules my life. Right after I visited Mary and Dale Hudson to photograph Joan’s enameled pieces, I drove to Florida Classics Library in Hobe Sound to buy books. When I stood at the counter to pay for my books, I glanced down and saw a copper enameled dish. It was Jim’s work! Val Martin, who founded Florida Classics Library was a close friend of the Hutchinsons. Jim had given the dish to Val Martin when his book store was across from Memorial Park in Stuart.
There is one other local person who learned copper enameling under Serge Nekrassoff, Jane Morrison, the granddaughter of George W. Parks who founded the merchandise store that is now Stuart Heritage Museum. Even though Jane lived all over the world after her marriage to Ray Fentriss, her experience with Serge Nekrassoff was mentioned in her obituary. The obituary, published in The Stuart News on August 24, 2017 stated “She also assisted and trained in copper enamel art under Serge Nekrassoff.”
Jane Morrison Fentriss stands in the Washington Square Gallery in New York City where a Nekrassoff exhibit was featured.
Today, an Internet search of “Serge Necrassoff” bring up many things. There are items for sale on eBay. My interest is primarily his copper enameling but the pewter pieces that cannot be replicated today are of interest to collectors and authorities on metalcraft.
Serge Nekrassoff’s son, Boris and his wife, Lois, presented a program for Stuart Heritage Inc. in April 2000.. To complete this blog I am featuring the Nekrassoff display that is there for all to see at the Stuart Heritage Museum, located in the commercial building constructed for Jane Fentriss’ grandfather, George Washington Parks, in 1901.
Salvatore Mete, Serge and Boris Nekrassoff stand by their crafted items in 1952. Although I owned this Art Ruhnke negative for many years, I did not know it until it was scanned recently by Martin Digital History. http://martindigitalhistory.com
Metal crafting entails the mastery of science. This article by Lionel Crawford, published in Science Illustrated in January, 1949 captures this truth.
The fluted dish belongs to my daughter, Jacqui Thurlow Lippisch. It shows a finished piece similar to the one illustrated in the article. It is hard for the uninitiated to comprehend the mastery of metallurgy required to produce such a piece. It also requires precision and artistic design. The enameling on Jacqui’s dish combines transparent and opaque enamel so the beauty of the copper shows through.
The use of enamels on the 11 inch copper plate is masterful. Serge Nekrassoff’s skill was unique and perhaps no one else will ever rival his artistic accomplishments with enamel on copper.This small dish with an enameled Florida Scrub Jay is one of my favorite Nekrassoff pieces. I admire it daily with much pleasure.
This enameled hot sauce ladle shows Nekrassoff craftmanship.
This pedestal bowl was given to Mary and Dale Hudson as a wedding gift.
In 1962, my husband and I were also given a Nekrassoff piece for a wedding gift. It was given by Harold and Voncile Zercher whose home was very close to the Nekrassoff home on Willoughby Creek. It was my introduction to Nekrassoff enameling.
My understanding of Serge Nekrassoff’s evolving career has become clearer since I have been revisiting my files and adding to my knowledge through newspaperrs.com.newspapers.com
In interviews, Serge remarked that the tastes of customers in New York were different from those of his clients in South America. It shows how he changed his products to suit the market.
I now understand that Serge Nekrassoff’s copper enameling flourished after he opened his workshop in Stuart. The enameling he did before he moved to Florida was plain or textured but there is no evidence that he painted wildlife scenes or “trees of life” on his copper pieces.
In Martin County nature lovers abounded. Serge changed his merchandise to meet the demand. He was more than a craftsman. He was a fine artist who perfected painting with enamel in his 50s. When he embellished copper enameled pieces with birds and marine life, they sold quickly.
Nekrassoff creations were so much in demand, locally and with New York City’s high-end retailers like Abercrombie and Fitch, it was almost impossible to fill orders and still have enough pieces to display in the S. Nekrassoff & Son showroom on S. U.S. 1 in Stuart.
AT LEAST TWO MORE BLOGS ON THE NEKRASSOFFS AND COPPER ENAMELING WILL FOLLOW.
A large plate with an American eagle created by Serge Nekrassoff hangs in the Thurlow living room.This Stuart News article published on May 4, 1969 is an excellent summary.
Starting this blog with the lovely enameled American eagle that hangs on my living room wall and a May 4, 1969 Stuart News article that shows Serge Nekrassoff holding what seems to be an identical plate lets readers know immediately a great deal about the subject of this and future blogs.
The Elliott Museum is showing 50 stunning replica Faberge’ Imperial Eggs. https://hsmc-fl.com/exibits/ When I attended the preview reception in September, I couldn’t help but think of our own Serge Nekrassoff, from Imperial Russia, who lived among us and produced beautiful copper enameled pieces.
As this tag states, Serge became a metalsmith in Paris in 1920 and moved to the USA in 1925.
Serge Nekrassoff was born February 10, 1895 into a family of landed gentry living near St. Petersburg, Russia. He was an officer in the Imperial Guard in 1917. During the Russian revolution, he fled across Europe, working in coal mines in Germany and as a taxi driver in Paris before finding employment with a metalsmith. In Paris, he learned to make everyday objects of copper and brought his skills to the United States where he ultimately set up a workshop in New York City.
He met and married another Russian émigré, Mary Leslie, who had a young son, Boris, who Serge adopted. The family moved to Darien, Connecticut where Serge expanded his metal crafting business, employing as many as 18 assistants. His pieces were sold to high-end stores like Abercrombie and Fitch Co.
With articles on newspaper.com much can be learned. This article published in the Stuart News on November 23 1950 supplied information new to me even though I started collecting material on Nekrassoff more than 50 years ago.
During WW II, when metals were unavailable, Serge turned to photography. In 1943, the Nekrassoffs purchased waterfront property in Port Sewall next to Sandspit Park and for a short time Serge had a photography shop in Stuart. After the war, when metals again became available, the Florida property was sold and the Nekrassoffs returned to Darien.
Boris who entered the U.S. Army and became a paratrooper, participated in the “battle of the bulge.” After the war he rejoined his parents and began working with his father. The firm then became S. Nekrassoff & Son.
This photograph of Serge and Boris Nekrassoff, taken by Art Ruhnke, appeared in the Stuart News on January 29, 1953.
After experiencing life in Martin County the Nekrassoff family wanted to return, In 1946 they once again bought waterfront property in Port Sewall, this time on Willoughby Creek across from Whiticar Boat Works.
In 1950 Serge and Boris Nekrassoff built a workshop and sales office on U.S. 1, across from today’s Martin Square Shopping Center where Home Depot is located.
This sign, with a display of Nekrassoff ware, stood on U.S. 1 across from where Home Depot stands today.
MORE NEKRASSOFF BLOGS TO FOLLOW.
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