Small Chest by Ed Schweinfurth

 

Photography by Jan Riser.

Small Chest by Bill Reynolds

 

Photography by Jan Riser.

Ed Schweinfurth Small Chest

Photography by Jan Riser.

Cabinet by Bill Reynolds

 

Furniture by John Miller

I built this cherry highboy about 25 years ago along with some other pieces of early American style furniture.  I modeled it after an 18th century piece pictured in Wallace Nutting's Furniture Treasury.  His picture had no scale so I assumed that the smallest dimension of the cabriole legs was 1 inch.  Using that as the basis for my scale, I scaled and drew a plan from his photo and built it.   Years later, I saw that same highboy featured in Antiques Magazine along with actual dimensions which I compared to mine.  I was 1/2 inch off in height!  I made the legs from a timber that had been cut in the 1940s from the area now flooded by Lake Dardanelle.  Its got 244 hand cut dovetails and has served as my dresser since I built it.  The cherry has aged to a beautiful deep reddish brown.   

Copy and photography supplied by John Miller.

Cradle by Mike Agee

Photographed at the 2013 CLA Show by Jan Riser.

Windsor Comback Arm Chair Made by David Morris and Assembled by Manfred Schmitz

Here some pics from a chair that was send to me as a kit from the Cabinetmaker David Morris in PA.  It was a lot cheaper to send it to Germany as a kit rather than as a complete chair. After recieving the kit I assembled the chair and finished it with milk paint for an authentic look.

Copy and photos supplied by Contemporary Makers' European Correspondent, Manfred Schmitz.

Goddard-Townsend Family Style Furniture by Michael Torrente

The Townsend and Goddard families were two Quaker families that were part of a large cabinet making community centered in the Easton's Point neighborhood of Newport, Rhode Island.

Twenty-one members of successive generations of these two intermarried families worked as cabinetmakers over a period of one hundred and twenty years, primarily during the 18th century.

The furniture of the Goddard-Townsend family of makers is characterized by a number of unique features.  Some of which are a stylized carved scalloped shell, a Queen Anne slipper foot cabriole leg and an open talon ball and claw foot. 

Goddard-Townsend furniture is featured in many major museums, and many pieces have sold at auction for record setting prices.

Here are some examples of replicated Goddard-Townsend pieces made by Michael Torrente.

Copy and photos supplied by Michael Torrente.

American Furniture at Skinner's Auction

Queen Anne Maple Carved High Chest, probably Hampden, Massachusetts area, 1760-80, the scrolled molded cornice ends in carved pinwheels flanking the central plinth and flame-carved finial above the upper case that includes three small drawers, the central one with a concave fan above four long graduated drawers with molded upper edges above the mid-molding and the lower case of drawers which also includes a central concave carved drawer above three flat-headed arches and cabriole legs ending in pad feet, replaced brasses, refinished, (imperfections), ht. 84, wd. 37 1/4, dp. 19 in.

Estimate $20,000-25,000

Sold for $29,375

Tiger Maple Dressing Table, Delaware River Valley, c. 1770, the top with molded edge and front notched corners above the case of three thumb-molded drawers, the top drawer is only visually divided, on a vigorously shaped and cut out front skirt and shaped sides above four cabriole legs ending in carved, stockinged feet with five facets, original brasses and lock, refinished, (imperfections) ht. 29 3/4, wd. 30, top wd. 34 1/2, top dp. 20 1/4 in.

Estimate $15,000-25,000

Sold for $15,272

Painted Paneled Maple, Oak, and Pine Chest of Drawers, Hatfield-Hadley, Massachusetts area, c. 1730, the molded top above a case of reverse graduated drawers separated by half round moldings, with recessed panel sides above a heavy molding and turned feet, pulls appear early, old Spanish brown repaint, (imperfections), ht. 45, wd. 43, case wd. 40, dp. 21 in.

Estimate $8,000-12,000

Sold for $5,875

Set of Five Chippendale Mahogany Carved Side Chairs, Boston, 1760-80, the serpentine crest rails terminate in raked molded ears and include chip carving above the pierced splats on trapezoidal molded seat frames and leaf-carved arris cabriole legs ending in frontal ball and claw feet with raking talons and rear squared legs ending in squared feet, old surface, (minor imperfections), ht. 38 1/2, seat ht. to rail top 17 in.

Estimate $30,000-50,000

Sold for $55,813

Chippendale Mahogany Carved Reverse Serpentine Desk and Bookcase, Boston or North Shore, Massachusetts, 1760-80, the scrolled molded cornice terminates in circular bosses above the flame-carved finials over the ogee and bolection molded frieze on the scrolled paneled doors flanked by pilasters which open to valanced and plain compartments, small drawers and adjustable shelf over candle slides, on the lower case which consists of a desk with fan-carved, end-blocked, serpentine drawers, with scrolled valances flanking the blocked fan-carved prospect door with a similar interior drawer flanked by column-decorated prospect drawers above the four graduated, serpentine drawers the top one of which is arced with cockbeaded surrounds, above the conforming molded base with central leaf-carved dropped pendant and four carved ball and claw feet with shaped knee brackets, old surface, replaced brasses, (minor repairs), ht. 94 1/4, wd. 41 5/8, upper case wd. 39 3/4, dp. 22 5/8, upper case dp. 13 3/8 in.

Estimate $15,000-25,000

Sold for $27,025

Chippendale Mahogany Carved Easy Chair, Boston, c. 1760-80, the serpentine crest above the shaped wings continuing to outscrolled arms on the cabriole front legs with arris knees which continue to carved ball and claw feet which are joined to the rear maple square, chamfered, raking legs by block and turned stretchers, old surface, modern wool damask red show cover replicating the appropriate cover for this 18th century chair, ht. 46, seat ht. 14 3/4 in. to the rail.

Provenance: According to Lyman family history, this chair descended in the family from Theodore Lyman, a Boston merchant, to the consignor. In 1793, Theodore Lyman, who had amassed a fortune in the China trade, purchased 150 acres of farm and woodland in Waltham, Massachusetts, where he established his country set including a Palladian-style mansion designed by the prominent architect Samuel McIntire of Salem. The surrounding landscape included ornamental ponds, a deer park, greenhouse, garden, and vast meadows. When Theodore Lyman died in 1839, the property including the house and land stayed in the Lyman family until it was gifted in 1951 to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, a Boston museum which has preserved the Lyman estate as an historic house known as "The Vale."

Note: The conservation report on this chair was prepared by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in 1994, when the show cover was hand-loomed for the chair

Estimate $40,000-60,000

Sold for $149,000.

Copy and photos from Skinner's Auction.