Ona Curran is a fine and decorative arts appraiser and consultant able to evaluate your collections of American and English furniture, silver, paintings and other 18th, 19th and early 20th century decorative arts. She is a certified member of the Appraisers Association of America and does not buy or sell antiques.

Ona is a former museum curator and has been appraising for the last twenty years working with banks, lawyers, museums, insurance companies and collectors. She has also lectured on antiques and is an art historian. She is the author of Thomas McIlworth/Colonial New York Portrait Painter published in 2007 and her latest book Faces of Schenectady 1715-1750. Both books are available at the Schenectady County Historical Society. Call 518 374-0263 or email office@schist.org.

McIlworth worked in the period 1758-1769 and painted the portraits of the patroons, political figures, college presidents and the mercantile elite of the New York Province. There are forty six known portraits well illustrated in the book with descriptive historical background on each. A most recent discovery is the portrait of General John Bradstreet found in an attic in Schenectady. It is the only known portrait of the general. This book on Thomas McIlworth is the first and only book published on this elusive artist.

Faces of Schenectady 1715-1750 explores the work of 18th century limners Nehemiah Partridge, John Heaton and Pieter Vanderlyn in Schenectady. The book is the catalog for the exhibit and illlustrates early portraits that have never been exhibited as a group before. The portrait on the cover is that of Laurens Van Der Volgen who served as a interpreter and liasion between the New York province and the Native Americans for forty years. The exhibit will run at the Schenectady Historical Society until November 1, 2010.