Antique Weathervanes and Lightning Rods

In early America, the weather was of utmost importance for daily life. The prevailing winds and a sudden change in direction, combined with patterns of the clouds and the level of moisture in the air, could determine whether a storm was on its way—freezing crops or providing them with much-needed rain. So it was that every city, village, and farm had its own weathervane (also called a weather vane, weathercock, wind vane) perched atop the highest building, to show people the direction the wind was coming from. The concept goes back to ancient Greece, where the first known weathervane, a life-size bronze Triton figure with his wand pointing into the wind, sat on the top of the Tower of the Winds temple. These devices are first recorded in England in the 11th century, and by the 17th century they were vital to ship merchants, aristocrats with shipping interests, and military leaders. Usually their weathervanes were attached to wind-clocks, often placed above the fireplace, which helped a merchant or a king calculate how long it would take his shipments or navies to arrive in port. In England, the rooster, or cock, was such a popular design that the devices were often called weathercocks. For Christians, the rooster symbolizes the Passion of Christ, as Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him three times before the cock crowed. The rooster’s early-riser tendency to cock-a-doodle-do at the crack of dawn is also associated Christ rising from the grave and bringing an end to the darkness, or good defeating evil. The bird also stands for watchfulness and readiness for the return of Christ. Arrows, like the one attached to the Father Time weathervane over Lord’s Cricket Grounds in London, which signals the end of play, were obvious weathervane motifs; farmers liked plain arrows for their simplicity and accuracy. Grasshopper weathervanes were a popular symbol for merchants, like the one belonging to Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange. At first, the colonists in America simply copied the weathervane designs used in mother England, be they arrows, grasshoppers, roosters, or fish, another ancient Christian symbol. The cock and the grasshopper design in particular remained popular for hundreds of years. Esteemed 18th-century weathervane artisan, Boston coppersmith Shem Drowne, adopted the grasshopper motif and made a copper one with green glass eyes that can still be seen at the home of the merchant family Faneuil. After America won its independence, weathervanes in the U.S. took on their own personalities. Farmers, concerned with their livestock and beasts of burden, would have weathervanes made in the shapes of horses, cows, sheep, pigs, or chickens, while coastal villages that depended on fishing favored sailors, captains, ships, whales, seagulls, fish, mermaids, and sea serpents. In addition to roosters and fish, American churches were topped by angels blowing trumpeting horns. Some shop owners would use their weathervanes as signs. Other American weathervanes were specific to a particular region. In Eastern Pennsylvania, farmers would display Indian-shaped weathervanes on their barns. The Indian's arrows indicated wind direction, while the Indian itself was supposed to be a sign that the property owner had bought his land from Indians, thus avoiding any raids on his farm. Some of the most enduring themes for weathervanes in the U.S. are patriotic symbols like the bald eagle, Lady Liberty, and Uncle Sam, which were used on private homes as well as municipal government buildings. When the steam locomotive first appeared on the scene, the railroad soon became a popular weathervane motif—these same train engines were quickly modeled by toy train makers. For a weathervane, whose name comes from the Old English word “fane” meaning flag or banner, to be successful, it must have even weight distribution throughout but an uneven surface area. It also has to have a sharply drawn profile, making it easy to distinguish from the ground and in silhouette. Some weathervanes also have the compass points, N, S, E, and W, in a fixed position to compare the pointer against. The earliest American weathervanes were carved out of wood or cut from sheet metal. Wooden vanes were usually painted in solid colors like red or white or yellow ocher to emulate gold leaf, or in a few brightly contrasting colors. Metal vanes, on the other hand, might be painted or gilded, but most were not. Unpainted iron made a dark, bold silhouette all by itself, while copper shined in a striking way at first, and then turned an appealing grayish green. Not surprisingly, few of these handcrafted, unfinished, weathervanes have survived. You’re much more likely to find a weathervane from after 1850, when they became three-dimensional and were mass produced by companies like J.W. Fiske Works, of New York City, and J. Howard & Co. and A.L. Jewell & Co., of Massachusetts. All were sold in hardware stores and via mail-order catalogs. Even though these companies had mechanized manufacturing processes for their vanes, much of the work still had to be done by hand by a specialized craftsman. Some were forged out of cast iron, using sand molds, a similar technique used to make the earliest mechanical banks. Most companies, however, specialized in hollow, 3D copper weathervanes, which were produced by hammering two pieces of sheet copper into cast-iron molds, and then soldering them together. Though technically distinct, weathervanes are often associated with lightning rods, and sometimes the two are combined into a single device. However, a weathervane will do nothing to deflect lightning unless it is linked from the roof to the ground using a conductive grounding cable. By the 1750s, inventor Benjamin Franklin had become interested in proving that lightning was electricity and devised a sharpened metal rod to affix onto buildings hoping it would help defuse the lightning and protect the structure below. Franklin advocated for an 8- to 10-foot long iron rod with a pointed tip, which would direct the electricity to the earth through an attached grounding wire. (Due to the absence of clear records, it’s still unclear if Franklin used a kite and key to test for static electricity present during thunderstorms.) The so-called Franklin Rod was soon adopted for use on public buildings and private homes, despite being opposed by many religious authorities and churchgoers on the grounds that it was tampering with God’s will. During the 19th and 20th centuries, many lightning rods and weathervanes included decorative glass balls of various colors which fit over the device’s central rod. While many antique lightning-rod balls were plain spheres of glass, others were designed in other geometric shapes, featured repeated patterns of ridges and shapes, or were embossed with company names like National or Electra. These glass lightning-rod balls did nothing to deflect lightning, and would, in fact, shatter if struck. However, this provided homeowners an easy way to determine that their building had been hit and to investigate for further damage. Another amusing weathervane-like device is the whirligig, a figure that showed not only the wind’s direction but also its speed. These wooden figures, usually military men, were hand-carved in the round by local craftsmen. Paddle-like wooden arms were then attached via a rod in the figures’ shoulders. The military dress was usually quite realistic and detailed, so antique whirligigs can be dated by their clothing. Smaller whirligigs are thought to be children’s toys. Having been constantly exposed to the elements, many antique weathervanes on the market today are damaged or have been repaired. One of the most famous weathervanes is the Indian chief vane from Henry Ford's granddaughter's house in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, which sold for $5.84 million dollars at a Sotheby’s auction in New York in 2006. That 1900 vane was made by J.L. Mott Iron Works of New York and Chicago.