1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:05,700 GUEST: I brought a Philadelphia lowboy. It's been in my family for about five generations. 2 00:00:05,700 --> 00:00:10,700 Originally, it was owned by Dr. Jonathan Elmer, who was a senator from New Jersey. He was 3 00:00:12,333 --> 00:00:14,800 in the Continental Congress for three terms. 4 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:16,433 APPRAISER: So, you called it a lowboy. 5 00:00:16,433 --> 00:00:19,033 GUEST: I did. 6 00:00:19,033 --> 00:00:22,433 APPRAISER: Which is sort of popular term for this kind of furniture. But we know from 18th-century 7 00:00:23,866 --> 00:00:25,100 inventories that it was actually a dressing table. 8 00:00:25,100 --> 00:00:27,133 GUEST: A dressing table. 9 00:00:27,133 --> 00:00:31,200 APPRAISER: Yes, and these pieces of furniture were often made in conjunction with a highboy, 10 00:00:32,633 --> 00:00:35,666 or high chest of drawers, with the same styles... 11 00:00:35,666 --> 00:00:37,200 GUEST: Okay. 12 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:38,033 APPRAISER: ...to them, and they were kept in bedrooms. 13 00:00:38,033 --> 00:00:40,133 GUEST: All right. 14 00:00:40,133 --> 00:00:42,266 APPRAISER: So, a lady would have dressed in front of this. Maybe there would have been 15 00:00:42,266 --> 00:00:47,000 a mirror behind it. So it's made of walnut. When I saw it across the room, I knew it was 16 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,433 Pennsylvania because of its trifed feet, and it has wonderfully carved feet. It's really 17 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:59,100 beautifully embellished. And if you notice, up the top of the foot, there is what we call 18 00:01:01,133 --> 00:01:04,366 stockings. There's another little telltale sign in here, which, when you pull out one 19 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,433 of the drawers, you see the interior has got what we call a dust board. There were about 20 00:01:11,900 --> 00:01:15,433 400 cabinetmakers in Philadelphia during the 18th century, many of them coming from Ireland. 21 00:01:17,666 --> 00:01:22,266 This was a typical convention in Irish furniture, and they brought it here to the Philadelphia 22 00:01:22,266 --> 00:01:27,266 area and the Middle Atlantic states. So I would date this dressing table between 1730 23 00:01:27,866 --> 00:01:28,800 and 1760. 24 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:30,066 GUEST: Oh, my goodness. 25 00:01:30,066 --> 00:01:31,333 APPRAISER: It's a Queen Anne piece. 26 00:01:31,333 --> 00:01:33,500 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 27 00:01:33,500 --> 00:01:36,733 APPRAISER: The secondary woods, there's poplar, there's also some yellow pine. It has a wonderful 28 00:01:36,733 --> 00:01:41,733 molded top with cut-- what we call a cut corner, which, you can see, it doesn't go out to a 29 00:01:43,766 --> 00:01:47,366 rectangle, but they clip it off to make a beautiful shape. And then below, the brasses. 30 00:01:49,466 --> 00:01:52,466 Now, again, from across the room, I can tell that these brasses have been replaced. 31 00:01:52,466 --> 00:01:54,533 GUEST: Yes. 32 00:01:54,533 --> 00:01:58,133 APPRAISER: And the brasses are Victorian brasses. So if you notice those, the little line on 33 00:01:58,133 --> 00:01:59,333 the bail that you pull... 34 00:01:59,333 --> 00:02:00,866 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 35 00:02:00,866 --> 00:02:02,133 APPRAISER: There's some little circular carvings on that. 36 00:02:02,133 --> 00:02:04,233 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 37 00:02:04,233 --> 00:02:07,200 APPRAISER: That is more of a Victorian convention, and not an 18th-century batwing brass. 38 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,333 GUEST: Okay. 39 00:02:09,333 --> 00:02:11,666 APPRAISER: These brasses would have been bigger. You can see the size of the batwings here, 40 00:02:11,666 --> 00:02:16,133 and they would have lined up with the one below, giving it this very kind of rectilinear 41 00:02:16,133 --> 00:02:21,133 form to it. This, I think, is, is really the Pennsylvania aesthetic of Quaker craftsmen, 42 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:30,000 and the Clifton and Carteret Furniture Manufactory was... They were Quakers. So, you get beautiful 43 00:02:32,433 --> 00:02:37,433 line, but you get simplicity, as well. And I think that that's very evocative of, of 44 00:02:38,833 --> 00:02:40,566 this piece. Have you had this appraised before or...? 45 00:02:40,566 --> 00:02:45,433 GUEST: Uh, no. Um, just estate appraisal, which was, like, 15 years ago. 46 00:02:47,533 --> 00:02:49,933 APPRAISER: Yeah, was this an estate where there was a lot of material dispersed among 47 00:02:49,933 --> 00:02:50,933 family members or... 48 00:02:50,933 --> 00:02:52,433 GUEST: Eventually. 49 00:02:52,433 --> 00:02:54,100 APPRAISER: Did you get the whole kit and caboodle, or...? 50 00:02:54,100 --> 00:02:55,833 GUEST: No, I didn't get the whole kit and caboodle, no. (laughing) 51 00:02:55,833 --> 00:02:57,466 APPRAISER: What made you choose this piece? 52 00:02:57,466 --> 00:02:59,600 GUEST: I needed furniture in my house. (laughs) 53 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:04,533 APPRAISER: So, I'd give the condition of this piece a B-plus. And the reason we don't get 54 00:03:06,133 --> 00:03:08,900 an A is that there is a section on the top, which has been replaced. 55 00:03:08,900 --> 00:03:10,833 GUEST: Repaired. 56 00:03:10,833 --> 00:03:13,600 APPRAISER: It's a two-board top. Probably an auction estimate in today's market would 57 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,266 be in the $10,000 to $15,000 range. 58 00:03:16,266 --> 00:03:21,266 GUEST: Oh, my goodness. (laughs) Wow. (laughs) I may have to find another place for it. (laughs) 59 00:03:23,733 --> 00:03:25,533 APPRAISER: So, I would say $30,000 for... 60 00:03:25,533 --> 00:03:26,700 GUEST: For insurance. 61 00:03:26,700 --> 00:03:28,233 APPRAISER: For a fair insurance value. 62 00:03:28,233 --> 00:03:29,666 GUEST: Okay. That's good to know.