In this crowd, the late Herold Berthy was as unique as the spelling of his name.
Among the legions of barn-picking sojourners, coveters of vintage vehicles and enthusiasts of all things Americana, we mean.
“He just had an eye for it,” Thomas A. Wade says of the Morgantown-area businessman and collector of all the above who died two years ago at the age of 86.
Most of Berthy’s adult years, in fact, were spent in pursuit of the above — acquiring as much as he could, as fast as he could.
“He was known all over the country for his collections,” said Wade, whose Wade Auction Services is handling Berthy’s estate auction this weekend.
That happens 9:30 a.m. Saturday, at the site of Berthy’s garage and outbuildings at 1358 Green Bag Road.
According to Hollywood-Herold lore, makers of the movies and miniseries in need of authentic rides for their productions knew that address well.
More on that.
The block, chock-full
First, Saturday’s auction.
It’s taken several weeks to get ready for it, said Wade, who operates the auction service with his wife, Christine and his son and daughter, Tommy and Whitney.
All of them are licensed auctioneers, and it’s a good thing for Saturday, Wade said, chuckling.
That’s because there are lot of things going on the block.
“I’m saying anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 items,” Wade said.
Which means, as said, Americana and more Americana: from vintage advertising signs, tools, license plates, other artifacts and collectibles and more — including 30 or so vehicles that etched Berthy’s name in the trade.
Antique fire trucks and ambulances, in particular.
“That’s what Herold was really known for,” Wade said.
“And you’re going to see several firemen’s helmets, fire extinguishers and other equipment on Saturday.”
Of tongue depressors and tail fins
The trucks and tools of first responders gone by were stock-in-trade for Berthy, who once famously put in a winning bid of $25 for the contents of a medical exam room at the former Sterling Faucet plant in Sabraton.
He walked away with that row of fire extinguishers he really wanted — and, as he wryly noted, “Enough tongue depressors to last me a lifetime.”
More than 30 antique rides up for bid are enough to satisfy any gearhead with a bent for history, Wade said.
There’s an early 1960s-vintage Cadillac ambulance in all its tail-fin, chrome-laden glory, Wade said, to go with another truck from the early 1900s that came off the assembly line with a chain-link drivetrain.
“That’s about as unique as it gets,” he said. “You’re just gonna have to come out to the auction to see it all.”
Berthy’s love and collection of old-time firetrucks garnered a spot for him as a ranking officer of the national Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America.
And when you come to the auction, Wade said, you’ll also be able to see the fruits of his company’s labor. Wade’s Auction Services also runs its own in-house salvage component, with heavy equipment and dumpsters.
“Things were stacked to the ceilings,” the owner said.
“There were fire trucks buried behind all this stuff. There was a lot of work involved in just getting things out into the light of day.”
Lots of cataloguing too, he said.
To get an advance sense of it, he said, visit his company’s website at https://www.wadesauction.com and click on the “Live Auctions” link for the photo gallery.
“Live” will be the watchword, he said. No online bidding. No reserves.
If your bid is the only one left standing when the gavel comes down, Wade said, you’ll own it.
From the mountains — to Morgan Freeman
“We’re expecting a real turnout,” he said.
“I’ve already taken calls from California to Puerto Rico from people asking about it.”
Which isn’t the first time Berthy has generated buzz for his collections.
Prison scenes for “The Shawshank Redemption,” the 1994 movie starring Morgan Freeman that was adopted from a Stephen King novella, were filmed at the former Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, which is about a four-hour drive from Morgantown.
With the producers striving for that aforementioned celluloid authenticity, once such scene called for a 1941 Cadillac S&S ambulance.
Who should happen to own one, but Berthy?
The vehicle’s floorboards were shot and the interior was rough, having been damaged in a flood, according to the telling, and it was also minus a motor.
From a distance, though, the outside of the ambulance, in true Hollywood fashion, was still looking good.
So, it was faithfully trucked to the Buckeye State, just in time for its close-up.
Several members of the film crew dutifully pushed it into the frame for its fleeting scene, employing old-school movie magic to make it appear as if were motoring under its own power.
Before the movie hit the multiplex that year, Berthy brought a snapshot of the ambulance with him to an international meeting of the Friends of the Professional Car Society, of which he was also a member in good standing.
“As I remember, this was before the movie was released so we didn’t know why it had the ‘State of Maine’ decals on the side,” one fellow member noted on the society’s message board then.
“And he wouldn’t say! Well, then the movie came out and …”
Said ambulance, meanwhile, isn’t one of the vehicles up for bid Saturday.
“A lot of cars and trucks were pulled out right after Herold passed,” Wade said.
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