I found a Rare and awesome piece of history

[Get-the-point]

Hello All!! Well I have been watching and loving everyone's finds. I was on the way to my storage unit when I saw a yard sale sign. So being the avid yard sale junkie I could not say no so I stopped in. This old couple had a whole steel morton barn filled with antiques. After looking I found a few paintings that I found interesting, as I brought them up to the couple they had this piece tucked behind them. I could not believe this what a treasure and a work of art. This piece of furniture is a Flower stand(I think) it is completely hand carved and a period piece. I believe it is either late 1700's to 1800's piece, found in the good ole' state of Pennsylvania. I am still trying to find out who possibly made this beautiful piece The wood appears to be a mix of possibly chestnut, ,maple, walnut and mahogany. The main turnings show non-uniformity and are different from one-another indicating that this piece was completely hand turned. The little turnings are made of chestnut and mahogany I believe. The pieces were quartersawn reduced in size by angle cuts and glued together, then lathed. This produced a two colored turning. The cabriolet legs are hand sawn. The diamonds in-lays on the top are maple. The first tier, the main diamond is made of mahogany with diamond maple inlay around the top. The border of that diamond consist's of angle micro hand cut and glue together chicklets made with mahogany and maple.On the outside of the first tier plate is more diamond maple in-lay. This piece is a gorgeous piece and a work of art that took someone a long time and patience to build. Whoever it was he was a master furniture maker. I believe this piece is probably a pennsylvania piece. If anyone could tell me anything about it and possible value I would really appreciate it. I have consulted a antique dealer who specializes in furniture and he states that it is completely hand done and that I did well!! He stated he has never seen a piece like it. He stated the possible age that is what I am going on. I hope that this piece becomes the first piece of furniture to hit the banner(wink,wink)!!!

 

[Skrimpy]

Wow. That is a gorgeous, intricate piece of work.

 

[Get-the-point]

Handsome, but not very old. Early 1900s at the oldest due to the flat head screw on the legs.

If it was made in Papua New Guinea, then you could still call it colonial though.

Interesting observation but the machined screw was invented in the mid 1700's. http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/wag/Am_Wood_Screws.pdf

After I pulled one of these screws it was associated to the period. So I must completely disagree with you. I have had other opinions on this piece and it is period and most likely New England states made.........

 

[NHBandit]

How deep was it ? It's very cool and well done. While I'm no expert on furniture though I do tend to agree with the opinion that's it's not nearly as old as you think it might be. Get a couple of opinions from real experts. If it's not classified info what did you pay for it ? I do think it's kind of odd that you ask the good folks here for their opinion and then dissagree with the ones you don't want to hear. To me it dosn't look that old. Just my 2 cents worth.... The legs & the screw heads for one, don't look 18th century to me no matter how long ago wood screws were invented. The top to my tired old eyes, looks to be made from 4, possibly 5 seperate boards. While this may have been done to show off the different grains of the wood there were much bigger trees around in the 1700 & early 1800s and almost all table tops you see from that period are made from much wider boards. As far as making the banner the old timers can give a better answer than I can but I'm thinking they're going to tell you this ain't the "antiques road show" no matter how cool your garage sale find is. I could be wrong... If you find a secret compartment and open it & it's full of gold dubloons though I promise you'll get my vote..

 

[Dman]

Looks to be machined turned to me. Not that old.

 

[Historyhound]

Looks to be machined turned to me. Not that old.

Agreed. My guess would be 1890 to 1920. Interesting design elements. Nice.

 

[Get-the-point]

Not arguing with him I was just pointing out what I have noticed. I thank you all for your comments and although this is not coins or civil war stuff this is really a beautiful find. I was thinking that everyone would appreciate a piece like this. I was also hoping to find someone on here who knew more about this style furniture and know it's true date. I also plan on having others look at it and will keep all informed..................

 

[thrillathahunt]

My two cents. No earlier than 1875-1880 as was most likely turned by a treadle lathe.

 

[creeper71]

I believe Heritage auction has a expert on furniture.. you can get a free appraisal from them if you do a free sign up an email the appraiser.. I'm pretty sure the furniture is under art....

 

[Get-the-point]

Thank you all for your comments. I was going to send in for that free appraisal at Heritage. I noticed that today on there site.......

 

[OldNBroken]

As a woodworker I am very interested in what info you get. I must agree with others based on the legs and turning on the turrets and balusters it appears to be late 1800 to early 1900's.
Just because they are not identical does not mean they were hand turned, it could mean someone just didn't use a template or "shotgunned" it with calipers.
Still a very nice piece. Please let us know what you find out.

 

[CRUSADER]

Looks to be machined turned to me. Not that old.

Agreed. My guess would be 1890 to 1920. Interesting design elements. Nice.

Agreed not that old, 1900-1930s. My Dad has a similar piece from the 1970s from the middle east.

 

[Mark S.]

I agree with OldNbroken. All depends on exactly how it was made. The screws they could have been replaced or even added. Not unusual with old furniture.

As for the top being made from more then "one board" that does not mean anything. Any good woodworker will tell you that you do not make a nice piece of furniture from one wide board. Sooner or later it will warp. Unless it has some major braceing and support. Even if you have a wide board you would rip it smaller, flip every other and glue it together.

I did notice one odd glue up. The small spindle in the 8th photo appears to be glued up in segments as opposed to flat glueing like the others.

These comments do not help with determining age just adds some fuel to the discussion.

 

[incajoe]

The legs would never have been attached in this manner on a piece of furniture from the 1700's. Also there appears to have been some changes made underneath. You can see where something else had been attached under there.

 

[Get-the-point]

The legs would never have been attached in this manner on a piece of furniture from the 1700's. Also there appears to have been some changes made underneath. You can see where something else had been attached under there.

Excellent observation Incajoe. I noticed the same thing when i posted the pictures. I was hoping someone would say something to verify my suspicion. I believe there might have been the same small turnings there in between each of the legs. The circle remnants are almost the same size as the turnings. Sometimes it is amazing how pictures illuminate things you cannot normally see.

 

[Get-the-point]

I agree with OldNbroken. All depends on exactly how it was made. The screws they could have been replaced or even added. Not unusual with old furniture.

As for the top being made from more then "one board" that does not mean anything. Any good woodworker will tell you that you do not make a nice piece of furniture from one wide board. Sooner or later it will warp. Unless it has some major braceing and support. Even if you have a wide board you would rip it smaller, flip every other and glue it together.

I did notice one odd glue up. The small spindle in the 8th photo appears to be glued up in segments as opposed to flat glueing like the others.

These comments do not help with determining age just adds some fuel to the discussion.

Mark that photo is a good shot of how how those small turnings were made. It is made of two different woods. Angle cut, glued together and then lathed. This is the method i believe he employed based on my observation. I can see the level of work in this piece. The photo's are great but you can see alot more hands on with the piece.........

 

[Get-the-point]

Please keep replying all the information and detective work is great. I have sent pictures to furniture expert Leigh Keno for evaluation according to his site it should take up to 4 weeks for a response. Just my opinion I'm thinking this piece could be earlier than what you all have stated. Maybe, maybe not. It does however have a high degree of craftsmanship with all the work involved.

 

[EagleDown]

One of my girlfriends found a box at a yard sale and bought it for $150.
I thought that it might have been an old linen caddy.
The front and back is 30" high, and 36" wide. The ends are 30" X 24". The top is 38" X 26" (overlaps all around.)

Each panel, (front, ends, back, bottom and top) are made from single planks. Solid, (approx. 1" thick.)

It is mounted on 4 6" wheels. The wheels and axels are all wood, and have wood pegs to hold the wheels on. It also has wood "skirts" attached to the box, to hide the axels and over half of the wheels.

The ONLY metal is a pair of hand forged hinges for the top. (Lid) The hinges are held on by flat head screws. Probably about 3/4" in length.

The box was appraised by Butterfield & Barnes (was Butterfield & Butterfield, I think.) for about $1,500. The appraisal was done in Sept. 2009. They stated that it was all original and was made in the late 18th to early 19th centuries.

I've only posted this to say, early pieces were more often than not, made from solid planks. As the "old growth" trees disappeared, planks became more and more narrow. From what I've learned, the larger the surface to be formed, the more narrow the planks. For instance, a large dining table might have been made with planks that were (let's say,) 12" wide, while a period piece like the one above would be small enough to use a solid plank for the top.

I'm not arguing anything here, or validating the age of the "stand", just offering my meager knowledge. Frankly, I would want an experts opinion before I would say that it was made before 1900 as I'm sure that I could duplicate the "stand" myself, (without the screws".)

 

[Get-the-point]

The top is two pieces. and the only metal are the 1" flat head screws that are holding in the feet. Those are old.

 

[creeper71]

The top is two pieces. and the only metal are the 1" flat head screws that are holding in the feet. Those are old.

I'm not saying they never used screws in the 1700's but I am saying that they mostly used wooden pegs