WEBVTT

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GUEST: I brought a Philadelphia
lowboy. It's been in my family
for about five generations.

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Originally, it was owned by
Dr. Jonathan Elmer, who was a
senator from New Jersey. He was

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in the Continental
Congress for three terms.

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APPRAISER: So, you
called it a lowboy.

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GUEST: I did.

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APPRAISER: Which is sort
of popular term for this
kind of furniture. But
we know from 18th-century

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inventories that it was
actually a dressing table.

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GUEST: A dressing table.

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APPRAISER: Yes, and these pieces
of furniture were often made
in conjunction with a highboy,

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or high chest of drawers,
with the same styles...

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GUEST: Okay.

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APPRAISER: ...to them, and
they were kept in bedrooms.

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GUEST: All right.

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APPRAISER: So, a lady would
have dressed in front of this.
Maybe there would have been

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a mirror behind it. So it's
made of walnut. When I saw it
across the room, I knew it was

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Pennsylvania because
of its trifed feet,
and it has wonderfully
carved feet. It's really

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beautifully embellished. And
if you notice, up the top of
the foot, there is what we call

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stockings. There's another
little telltale sign in here,
which, when you pull out one

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of the drawers, you see the
interior has got what we call
a dust board. There were about

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400 cabinetmakers in
Philadelphia during the
18th century, many of
them coming from Ireland.

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This was a typical convention
in Irish furniture, and
they brought it here
to the Philadelphia

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area and the Middle Atlantic
states. So I would date this
dressing table between 1730

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and 1760.

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GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

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APPRAISER: It's a
Queen Anne piece.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: The secondary
woods, there's poplar,
there's also some yellow
pine. It has a wonderful

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molded top with cut-- what we
call a cut corner, which, you
can see, it doesn't go out to a

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rectangle, but they clip it
off to make a beautiful shape.
And then below, the brasses.

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Now, again, from across the
room, I can tell that these
brasses have been replaced.

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GUEST: Yes.

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APPRAISER: And the brasses are
Victorian brasses. So if you
notice those, the little line on

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the bail that you pull...

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: There's some little
circular carvings on that.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: That is more of a
Victorian convention, and not
an 18th-century batwing brass.

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GUEST: Okay.

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APPRAISER: These brasses would
have been bigger. You can see
the size of the batwings here,

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and they would have lined up
with the one below, giving it
this very kind of rectilinear

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form to it. This, I think,
is, is really the Pennsylvania
aesthetic of Quaker craftsmen,

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and the Clifton and Carteret
Furniture Manufactory
was... They were Quakers.
So, you get beautiful

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line, but you get simplicity,
as well. And I think that
that's very evocative of, of

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this piece. Have you had
this appraised before or...?

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GUEST: Uh, no. Um, just
estate appraisal, which
was, like, 15 years ago.

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APPRAISER: Yeah, was this an
estate where there was a lot
of material dispersed among

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family members or...

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GUEST: Eventually.

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APPRAISER: Did you get the
whole kit and caboodle, or...?

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GUEST: No, I didn't
get the whole kit and
caboodle, no. (laughing)

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APPRAISER: What made
you choose this piece?

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GUEST: I needed furniture
in my house. (laughs)

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APPRAISER: So, I'd give
the condition of this
piece a B-plus. And
the reason we don't get

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an A is that there is
a section on the top,
which has been replaced.

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GUEST: Repaired.

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APPRAISER: It's a two-board
top. Probably an auction
estimate in today's market would

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be in the $10,000
to $15,000 range.

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GUEST: Oh, my goodness. (laughs)
Wow. (laughs) I may have to find
another place for it. (laughs)

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APPRAISER: So, I would
say $30,000 for...

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GUEST: For insurance.

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APPRAISER: For a
fair insurance value.

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GUEST: Okay. That's
good to know.