'Priceless' antique window pays off couple's farm
More than two years ago, Fran and Monica Brancato found their dream home: a rustic farm on 155 wooded acres in Somerset County where they could raise their three children, relax next to a fireplace and live out their days in peace and comfort.
Little did the Brancatos know then that a single window in the farmhouse would be worth more than what they paid for the entire farm.
"The place was in pretty bad shape and out of our price range," said Fran Brancato, a 38-year-old graphic artist and a native of North Versailles. "We didn't feel it was worth what they were asking because it would need a lot of renovation to make it livable.
"But Monica and I fell in love with it," he said. "We saw great potential in the place and hoped we could restore it to its original grandeur."
The eight-bedroom farmhouse in Rockwood is on property that also includes a 200-year-old cabin, a caretaker house, a blacksmith shop and a shack used to make maple sugar.
But something else about the farm intrigued the Brancatos — the window. In the rear of the farmhouse above a stairway was a 56-by-84-inch stained-glass window depicting a simple cottage surrounded by flowers and trees. The window was not visible from the outside because an addition to the house had covered it.
"I have a degree in fine arts," Fran Brancato said. "I thought the window might have some value and decided to have it appraised."
Brancato found the word "Tiffany" at the bottom of the window. And then, slowly and magnificently, all the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together.
An art appraiser told the couple they had a genuine Tiffany Studios window.
TIFFANY COMMISSION
Louis Comfort Tiffany, the famed creator of stained-glass windows, accepted a commission in 1905 to make the fine leaded- and plated-glass window for a home Thomas Lynch was building on West Pittsburgh Street in Greensburg. The window was installed on the landing of the Lynch home's grand staircase in 1907.
For the creation of the window, Lynch provided Tiffany a period photo of his grandfather's sheep farm and his father's birthplace in Ireland, showing a thatch-roof cottage with flowering window boxes.
In the early 1850s, Lynch's parents, Patrick and Nancy Lynch, emigrated from Ireland to Uniontown, where Thomas Lynch was born in 1854. He would become general manager of the H.C. Frick Coke Co. in 1891, supervising Henry Clay Frick's coal and coke operations in the Connellsville coal district. Thomas Lynch died in 1914.
The Tiffany Studios window began its journey to Somerset County in 1945, when Thomas Lynch's son, Thomas Jr., a founding member of the board of Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, sold the family home to Col. W. John Stiteler Jr., a Greensburg businessman.
Stiteler converted the Lynch house into office space for the Coal Operators Casualty Co., of which he was founder and president. He removed the Tiffany window and installed it in his Somerset County country home, which the Brancatos would eventually buy.
'PRICELESS' PIECE
With an appraisal in hand, the Brancatos contacted the auction house Christie's in New York, which sent appraisers to inspect the window. Christie's estimated the window would bring in about $200,000 at an auction in June 2001.
Judith O'Toole, director of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, said the museum was tipped off to the sale several weeks beforehand. It bought the window for $350,000 and returned it to Greensburg, where it was unveiled as part of the museum's permanent collection in September 2001. O'Toole described the piece as "priceless."
The Brancatos were left speechless.
"We used the money to pay off the farm, which cost us $300,000," said Fran Brancato. "My friends wanted us to invest the money in the stock market. I'm glad we didn't listen to them. I look pretty smart now."
He said he came close to losing the valuable window to the family that sold the farm.
"We had made an offer on the farm. The owner made concessions, and we were able to come to an agreement," he said. "After the sales agreement was signed but prior to closing, the Realtor contacted us. He said the family wanted the window for their daughter and would put something in its place.
"I was certain the window was a Tiffany and said, 'Absolutely not.' Monica had scratched away some paint from the lower right-hand corner, and it revealed the signature of Tiffany Studios."
TREASURE HUNTERS </B
The Brancatos decided to look for more antiques on the property and found others.
"There was an old bench that had been painted over and left outside," said Monica Brancato, a native of Penn Hills. "We brought it in, cleaned it up and discovered it dated back to 1840. It was one of those benches that sat in front of a general store where people came to sit and congregate. I don't know what it's worth, but we're going to keep it."
Discovering the window turned Monica Brancato into an antiques buff.
"I had always liked to look for antiques and do my shopping," she said, "but now I find myself going to yard sales and flea markets, looking for bargains. There are so many valuable items out there that people throw away or sell for a quarter."
Even without the window, Brancato said, the farm is still a treasure because of the history and the character of the people who built it.
"This place was called the Middlecreek Farm, and it was started by Colonel W. John Stiteler Jr.," he said. "The colonel bought a 150-year-old two-story log house from an Upper Turkeyfoot Township neighbor and moved it to his place for a guesthouse. He also planned to use it as a museum for family heirlooms. He constructed the sugarhouse to make refined maple syrup, for which Somerset is famous. And he built a blacksmith shop, putting in a 300-pound anvil and 100-year-old leather bellows."
The Brancatos' three children — Ethan, 12, Luke, 7, and Amanda, 5 — have fallen in love with the place.
"Monica and I met in high school," Brancato said. "We worked together in Monroeville and we've been married 12 years. I have a fine arts degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Discovering the Tiffany window was just unbelievable."
FUTURE OF FARM, WINDOW
The couple said they eventually plan to convert their farmhouse into a bed-and-breakfast.
"That won't happen for a while," said Monica Brancato, laughing. "Probably when we're old and gray. But we may build some guest cottages on the property. We also plan to buy some horses for riding. This is a great place to live."
Meanwhile, the Westmoreland Museum of American Art has repaid $360,000 of the $400,000 loan it obtained for the purchase, conservation and installation of the Tiffany window, O'Toole said. It is accepting contributions and is continuing fund-raising efforts to repay the rest of the loan.
