Messages

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Solid Mahogany Late American Classical or Empire? Table

« on: May 21, 2013, 03:16:17 PM »

Looks like scribe marks on those finger joints, which would indicate an earlier manufacture and not machine made.  Need a closer picture.  They are reasonably priced, particularly in this condition. 

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Solid Mahogany Late American Classical or Empire? Table

« on: May 21, 2013, 08:55:22 AM »

I actually think that the terms "Empire" and "Late Classical", at least as they relate to American furniture, are somewhat interchangeable.  They are describing a style of furniture made during the period of time from roughly 1825 to the 1840s. 

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Solid Cherry Mahogany Colonial? Table

« on: May 21, 2013, 07:52:06 AM »

Here is a photo of a very similar base on a table known to be Empire.  Also, the base is pictured in the Joseph Meeks' advertising brochure from the 1830s.  Looks to me to be older than revival. 

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Solid Cherry Mahogany Colonial? Table

« on: May 21, 2013, 07:32:59 AM »

Looks to be American Empire.  Probably around 1830.  That pedastal base shape is reminiscent of Joseph Meeks, which would make it a New York product.  Empire is, or used to be, very popular down here in the South.  It would be mahogany, not cherry. 

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Cinnabar ???

« on: September 05, 2012, 10:50:37 AM »

Certainly looks like cinnebar carving.  Cinnebar is usually a deep red, but I think that it will fade with sunlight.  I am attaching a photo of a cinnebar box which has similar inset carving.

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Help identify tiger oak DR set

« on: April 01, 2012, 12:20:05 PM »

The chair looks like it has a Queen Anne splat and crest with Jacobean front legs.  This mixture of styles would lead me to believe that it would probably be reproduction early 20th century.  If you could take pictures of the underneath of the chair seat and the dovetails of the drawers (where the boards join), that would give us more information.  It does not particularly look French to me, however.  Are there any labels or identifying marks anywhere?

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Could you help me identify what kind of chair this is?

« on: March 14, 2012, 03:25:47 PM »

Not to be blunt, but this chair would never be mistaken for Duncan Phyfe.  Heavy, clunky, Duncan was not.  Not a Federal style.  The front legs resemble Marlboro legs, which were Chippendale, but the upper chair is not at all Chippendale.  I would guess that it is a relatively modern chair with a combination of elements. 

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: console table

« on: March 09, 2012, 06:54:36 PM »

As a baby boomer myself, that is a very good point.  I am still more inclined to pick up pieces than let them go, but I can see in the not too distant future a time where I will have to decide what to do with the "treasures" that I have cared for during my lifetime.  My two adult sons are not particularly interested in antique furniture, and my concern is that it is as much a generational issue as a personal one.  I hope, Mart, that it is something that will cycle back into favor.  Antiques are art and history rolled together into countless unique and varied forms.  Our lives would be much impoverished without their charm and beauty.  

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: console table

« on: March 09, 2012, 03:40:32 PM »

Jacon4 - I am interested in your description of the market as a "depression in antique brown furniture."  I'm not a dealer, and don't often buy or sell pieces, but I had heard that the market was "soft".  Is the true state of the antique furniture market that bad?  Is it across regions and periods both?  What do you think the future holds?  I know that at local antique auctions, many of the buyers are dealers, but there are few young people in attendance.  Same with model train shows.  Am very interested in your thoughts.   

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: New to Antiques and to Forums! Need lots of help : )

« on: March 07, 2012, 05:03:05 PM »

I think that a piece of this type with cabinet doors that open on the top and exposed drawers was called a "clothes press."  If it opened to a space for hanging clothes, it would be an armoire or wardrobe.  A chiffarobe was a southern armoire or wardrobe with the hanging space to the side of the drawers.

If we can see some details of the dovetails (joined sides of the drawers) and the inside of the case, it would help in determining age.   

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: console table

« on: March 07, 2012, 04:47:37 PM »

I guess a spanner would be a wrench over here.    Didn't mean to cause a ruckus, but everything about the style of the table looks French to me.  The closeups of the carving show the identical ebonized punched background that the canape that I put up has.  I am very interested in hearing other opinions on this because it may help to date both this piece and the piece that I am comparing it to. 

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: console table

« on: March 07, 2012, 03:41:48 PM »

I'm not sure that I see a trifid foot.  It looks more to me like Louis XV, with a carved flourish down to a brass castor.  It looks like it has an ebonized punched background for the carving which is also reminiscent of Louis XV carving.  Here are a couple of photos of a similar type of background from a Louis XV canape.

Nice table.

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Another Federal period piece

« on: February 10, 2012, 02:48:37 PM »

It's absolutely gorgeous.  Down here, you rarely ever see anything colonial.  Federal sometimes, and a good bit of Empire, but nothing that early.  At least not that I have run across.  Nice piece.

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Another Federal period piece

« on: February 10, 2012, 02:35:51 PM »

Wow.  What a pretty piece.  Nice condition for that age.  (Heck, any age for that matter.)  Beautiful turnings.  Very nice.

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Another Federal period piece

« on: February 10, 2012, 02:28:10 PM »

Thanks for the discussion.  I originally thought it was a Pembroke table, because of the drop leaves, but I decided that the Pembroke table style didn't have the width and depth of the chest that exists here, with Pembrokes only having one drawer and perhaps a false drawer front on the other end.  I then decided it was a work table (not a sewing table since it didn't have an open bottom and bag), but those rarely seem to have drop leaves.  Interesting. Thanks again.