Images(2)

"Wheel of Fortune" Stoveplate

Date1726

Attributed to Colebrookdale Furnace

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Colebrookdale or Europe, Germany

MediumIron

DimensionsHeight: 27"; Max Width: 11 1/2"

Credit LineGift of Peter A. Renzetti

Object number2023-18

DescriptionFragmentary cast iron stoveplate with the legend "ANNO : 1726" above a scene of the goddess Fortuna on a spoked wagon wheel. She holds a tasseled cap in her right hand and a long scarf or banner in the other. Faces representing the four cardinal directions (now missing) blow upon the wheel, their wind depicted as elongated triangular shapes radiating from the wheel. Below is the German legend;

DU. FALSCHES. GLUCK.
DU. GBST. UND. NMST. AUCH.
DENE. GABEN. WAS. WILL.
EIN. GLAUBENS. KND. MIT.
DIR. ZU. SCHAFFEN. HABEN.

In English, this reads; "Thou false luck, thou givest and takest again thy gifts. What
shall a child of faith have to do with thee?"
Label TextBearing the date 1726, this fragment is one of only two known examples of the "Wheel of Fortune" stoveplate. They are believed to be the earliest American-made stoveplates identified, though they may have been imported from what is now Germany. They carry a scene of the goddess Fortuna standing on a wheel being blown upon by strong winds from the North, South, East, and West. Coupled with a German legend, the design questions how much importance should be placed on luck in the life of a good Christian.

Colonial Williamsburg's example had been repurposed, with portions of its left and right sides crudely knocked off. It was noted sometime before 1896, being used to line the bake oven of a derelict "log hut" which once stood on the grounds of Mount Penn, a farm in Alsace Township near Reading, Pennsylvania.

When the hut was demolished in 1896, the stoveplate was saved by Thomas Stiegerwalt, the property owner. Other cast iron fragments found in the oven, likely remnants of the same stove, were then sold as junk. Stiegerwalt passed this "Wheel of Fortune" stoveplate on to a Mr. B. F. Owen in July, 1910.
ProvenanceFound on the property of Mr. Thomas Stiegerwalt of Mount Penn (Alsace Township), Berks County, Pennsylvania before 1896. Acquired from Stiegerwalt by Mr. B. F. Owen in July 1910. According to the donor, this stove plate was deaccessioned by the Landis Valley Museum and was purchased by him at auction sometime in the 1980s.