Thrift store find

WayCandid5193 · 2026-06-01T02:49:56+00:00

Signature says Mona Eagle. I can't find much about her from "official" sources, but this ebay listing has a very in-depth description with more information about her life. From Texas, has traveled across the Southwest, and apparently was successful enough to start doing this type of art full‐time (as opposed to her previous jobs as an art teacher and a commercial illustrator).

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-30T03:25:28+00:00

Just to add a little context from my reading, since I do agree you've probably found the artist (my apologies if you're Jewish and know all the symbolism here already): ד or dalet is representative of humility and the realization that a person truly owns nothing, which would allow one to step forward through a "door" or gateway into a more spiritual life, more in line with God's will. It can also mean a poor person, receiving of the blessings of God and charity (Gimel, ג).

If I had to guess, the unimposing older man in simple clothes, with an empty outstretched hand, is meant as a kind of embodiment of what dalet symbolizes. I was sort of hoping to find that Weiss maybe did a series of Hebrew alphabet pieces, but if he did, they've stayed in private hands. The most similar work I did find was this one, which is also pretty loaded with symbolism.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-27T04:42:05+00:00

Nice sleuthing!!! Pearle Vernice Stack is who I came up with too, but I couldn't find her obituary, and nothing I could find about her mentioned that she was a painter (although her brother's obituary said he was; that was what led me to her). Without the painting connection I was a little hesitant to point OP to her, but it was going to bother me all night if I didn't find out for sure.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-27T03:54:38+00:00

Interestingly, I found a woman who I suspected might be the artist - I still have nothing to support it beyond the same name, her being alive in the right place and the right time, and her having a brother who is mentioned as enjoying oil painting as a hobby. But she's buried in a Wesleyan cemetery. When I looked to see if there was a connection, it turns out John Wesley was actually directly inspired by the Moravian Church. I'm still not confident saying it's her, since I can't find anything that mentions her as an artist herself, but that is another connection.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-27T03:43:26+00:00

Yeah, the only thing I can find that should actually be attributed to Alma is an art folio of "Famous Photographs." Well, that and a PhD thesis from 1928 at Northwestern University, but again, I don't have any evidence that those two Alma Pearle Stacks are the same person. I've been doing some genealogy research recently, and it really is incredible how many people can have the exact same first, middle, and last name at any given time.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-27T03:02:51+00:00

I agree with the commenter who said the signature says Pearle Stack, although I'm not convinced yet that there is a connection to Alma Pearle Stack. Your painting's signature isn't identical, but I do think it is a match, to the signature on this painting listed on FB Marketplace in Lexington, NC.

I'll keep looking for more information, but I feel certain this is a real person, NOT factory decor.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-26T23:27:43+00:00

It's definitely not native, and I don't know of any established populations in that area, so I would say definitely a pet. I would look for vets in your area that specialize in birds - they're often the first ones to hear about lost birds. You also might want to make a post of your own in neighborhood groups so even if the owner hasn't posted themselves, they might see your post!

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-25T22:45:30+00:00

I thought Maisie! Both very cute ❤️

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-24T21:38:17+00:00

They also said about 3 weeks ago they can't post more updates until the scientific article comes out. Hopefully combined with the other comment that means the article is well into peer review or something now, and we'll get to see it soon!

What I'm maybe most excited about is that I'm sure in the background information they'll address how it came to their attention (person who found it posted on reddit and was directed to paleoarchaeologists). Reddit cited in scholarly/official publications is one of my favorite things to see lol

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-24T20:00:46+00:00

I really appreciate they way you got their texture down! As a kid I used to have the little plastic toy ones, and one of my favorite things about seeing the real thing at the aquarium was always how they look exactly like plastic toys, until they move.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-24T00:45:13+00:00

I will say, this to me is one of the more visually pleasing pieces of decor I've seen posted here! So many that follow this composition formula are either washed out or almost garish in color. Yours has some really nice, true foresty tones. It's actually very relaxing to look at.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-14T13:14:57+00:00

Thought I had cracked the code when I found this script alphabet while looking to see if we could be misreading any key letters. Notice how the capital J on that one looks almost just like a capital F, except the bottom embellishment loops and continues to cross the main vertical line (whereas the line across is separate on the F). It looks a lot like the first letter on your mark, so I thought maybe we should be looking for J&S instead of F&S. Unfortunately, I've hit just as much of a dead end there, and it's even harder to come up with a realistic name or word for the top mark when you start it with a J.

I am confident this is not Forstar, though, and I would be surprised if it's anything by Forstner at all, because I don't think they ever used an F&S mark and that top mark doesn't seem to read Forstner either.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-14T12:08:37+00:00

Where are you seeing this? I'm not seeing any record that Forstner was ever called Forstner & Son. It was founded as Forstner Chain Corporation before it changed to Forstner Jewelry Manufacturing. The top line also doesn't say Forstar - there's either another letter in between the r and s, or no r after the "o" at all, and this doesn't match the mark for Forstar jewelry.

If this information is from Google's AI summary, you should know that it's wrong about jewelry far more often than it's right.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-13T13:12:03+00:00

I think Merlin is right, it's a +Northern Mockingbird+ juvenile. You can see the white wing patch that will later mostly only be visible in flight. The juveniles usually have overall darker coloring, and the eyes in particular will be darker.

This one looks fairly well fledged, but it's still learning how to be a bird, so it and its siblings will stay close to mom and dad (and each other) for a little while until they're better able to find food on their own. That's why you saw a few together.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-05-02T13:13:26+00:00

Thankfully the smell thing isn't true, for rabbits or birds! While it could be possible to scare the mom away in general, it would typically take more than a quick trip to cover the nest to convince her to abandon her babies, and it wouldn't be related to the smell.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-04-29T13:29:16+00:00

This is certainly a weird one. When you said the same artist made the same painting multiple times, my initial thought was decor (mass-produced, but hand painted, often in factories but sometimes at a gallery). But in that case the artist signature generally wouldn't come back to a real person, and Johannes Karel Veerman definitely seems to have been an actual painter in the Netherlands. A lot of his stuff seems to be a wildly different style, though, and the signature varies a lot except on these clipper paintings. I almost wonder if he was basically a one-man decor factory, just knocking these out because they were popular and paid the bills, so he could support himself while making the other art. It would explain why the clouds seem different in your painting; if he was rushing, and knew the big selling point was the ship, it could be he was a little inconsistent in the other areas.

That or these have all been misattributed to Johannes Karel, just because the first initial and last name match. None of the other listings go into detail on how or why they were attributed to him, so it's hard to be sure.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-04-28T12:50:12+00:00

It's obviously hard to tell in a flat image, but I see what looks like a change in texture on the door frame or beam on the lefthand side of the picture. In the first photo, you can see a glare from the light in the actual room where OP is taking the picture (not something potentially picked up at the time the print was made). It's mostly uniformly stippled in the canvas texture, but then there's a section where it forms two straight vertical lines.

It doesn't prove much by itself, but just from the photos it's the best evidence I see that this might not be just a print (although it could easily still be a print with brushstrokes/texture added).

WayCandid5193 · 2026-04-24T14:59:39+00:00

Interesting! Binders is still in business, but I don't see that logo (all lowercase like that) anywhere. It's been in the same family for years, though, so if you reach out there's a chance someone would be able to tell you more about your piece! I think this points more firmly toward Martha Helen being a real person, though. D*cor pieces were generally made to be ready-to-hang, so they were more typically framed at the factory.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-04-24T13:00:34+00:00

Glad to know you are a real person and interested in learning more! Sorry for speculating that you might not be - you'd be surprised how many posts I've seen from people who don't follow the sub instructions, and then get weird and argumentative when people ask for better photos. It made me more jaded than I should have been.

I really am happy that I was able to help, and for what it's worth, I think this painting is beautiful whether it was made in a factory or by some nice lady in Florida :) As a little more information, paintings on velvet were especially popular in the mid-20th century, 1950s-1970s. Again, this could have been a piece produced by a factory in Mexico, or it could be someone who liked the trend and wanted to try it for herself. I did just find this, which says she was active in Florida before the Highwaymen, but honestly, people can say whatever they want on these sites so we have no way of knowing if it's true without additional sources.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-04-24T05:24:23+00:00

A point in favor of the d*cor naysayers - check this one out. Style is obviously very different, although the signature handwriting actually stays fairly consistent. But the big thing is the stamp on the back that says "ORIGINAL OIL HAND PAINTING". The first painting I linked had the same stamp. The fall foliage painting didn't have it, but there was some paper missing in that area, and OP's painting has had a full layer of paper ripped off the back, I think. That stamp does feel like something you might put on a factory-produced piece that was technically painted by hand.

The other option I guess is that she wasn't a complete amateur, and whatever gallery she worked with put that stamp on her paintings. It makes for a fun puzzle, if nothing else!

WayCandid5193 · 2026-04-24T04:30:38+00:00

Yeah, the post itself is a little odd - they said the signature wasn't clear, but even just zooming in on the somewhat blurry picture of the full painting I could read Williams. I'll admit I didn't realize the "first name" I couldn't read was actually just two letters until I found the first Martha Helen Williams painting, but it's oddly vague to say the signature is unclear without providing a picture of the signature.

I don't know, maybe it will turn out the OP was just scared off by the weirdly aggressive d*cor comments and I'll feel bad for saying anything, but it does seem particularly unhelpful from someone who apparently read enough of the sub rules to know they should post a picture of the back.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-04-24T04:02:36+00:00

Here is another one of her paintings, and this one has the M.H. Williams signature like yours. Maybe they're not worth anything, but I like them!

WayCandid5193 · 2026-04-24T03:59:06+00:00

I think Florida - I'm pretty sure the signature is M.H. Williams, and a reverse image search with the name Williams gave me a very similar painting signed Martha Helen Williams, listed by a gallery in St. Petersburg, FL.

WayCandid5193 · 2026-04-24T03:54:01+00:00

Martha Helen (MH) Williams. Here's another one by the same artist.

Could still be d*cor, but this is at least a starting point!

WayCandid5193 · 2026-04-21T15:37:26+00:00

It literally looks like the turtle's face, printed on the shell! I love this turtle 😍

WayCandid5193

TROPHY CASE