Delaware Antiques Show 2021

You Recognize a Classic When You See It Remembering Two Longtime Leaders, Supporters, and Friends of Winterthur and Delaware Antiques Show William “Bill” K. du Pont William “Bill” K. du Pont was elected a trustee of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc., in 1978, a post he held at the time of his death on July 4, 2020. Bill provided strong and steady guidance by serving as Chair of the Collections Committee, Chair of the Conservation Committee, Chair of the Museum Acquisition and Loan Subcommittee, and as a member of several other committees and subcommittees. He enthusiastically supported Winterthur programs as a member of the Collectors Circle, the Friends of Winterthur, and the Advisory Committee of the Delaware Antiques Show. During his tenure as chair of the Collections Committee from 2001 until 2007, the estimated value of all gifts and purchases for Winterthur totaled more than $15 million. In 2004, he was instrumental in the purchase of the $1.5 million Peter Stretch tall case clock—perhaps the most important acquisition since Henry Francis du Pont’s time—and a unique punch bowl by Boston silversmith John Burt. These magnificent objects reinforced Winterthur’s preeminence as the foremost museum of American decorative arts. Bill was also personally generous to the museum. In 2001, he made an extraordinary gift of the earliest known variant of the indenture signed by the crown to William Penn for the land that would become northern Delaware. In 2002, he made a donation of early nineteenth-century gentleman’s pistols—the finest in existence. In 2019, he made substantial year-end gifts of a schrank, a tall case clock, a flintlock rifle, a pipe tomahawk, a group of four Welsh Quaker documents, a workbook of Sarah Williams, and a quilt by Rachel Mackey dated 1787. Ever the passionate collector, Bill was most enthusiastic when sharing his knowledge with others. — 4 —