GUEST: This is a piece that
I purchased at a flea market
in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota,
in about 1969 or 1970. And
we bought it so that we would
have a change table for our
firstborn baby. I have pictures
of my daughter at six months
sitting in a bathtub on top
of this buffet.
APPRAISER: Do you remember
how much you paid for it?
GUEST: This antique dealer
down there had several buffets
of different types, and he
wanted to clean out his antique
store because they were taking
up so much room, so he said
that we could have any
one we wanted for $25.
APPRAISER: Wow! And do
you know who made it?
GUEST: I believe it's
a Stickley, because
I found the labels,
actually, like, this week,
as I'm getting it
ready to bring it here.
APPRAISER: So the piece is by
Stickley, and the firm, while
not owned by the family, is
still in business today.
But this piece was made
by Craftsman, which
was a Stickley company,
which was started at around
1900. What we also know is
that it was retailed through
their New York showrooms, and
then that's really helpful,
because then we have a better
sense of when it was made,
and we are able to say it was
between about 1905 and 1910.
So the paper label on the back
has all of that information
for us, which is really,
really helpful. The Stickley
Brothers firm was established
in upstate New York just outside
of Syracuse. So they're
very firmly an upstate
New York company. The
Arts and Crafts movement,
which came over from England,
sort of was really established
in upstate New York by
Stickley. Some people refer to
this as Mission-style furniture.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And Stickley really
didn't like the use of that
term. He really preferred
Arts and Crafts. It's a much
more simplistic term. He had
these very simplistic visions
in life and in community,
and this is a really
wonderful example of
one of his pieces. It's
made of oak, with these
wonderful quarter-sawn
oak panels here and
this absolutely fabulous
hammered-copper hardware--
these wonderful big hinges.
You've got the big ring handle,
cabinet door handles, and then
also the drawer pulls. Also,
this piece back here, do you
know what this is for?
GUEST: Yeah, for plates. I
always have put plates in there.
APPRAISER: Yup, that's exactly
right, that's for plates. And
then what's really nice...
We have the Stickley
mark in there.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Which is a joiner's
compass. And it says, "Als Ik
Kan," which, loosely translated,
means "To the best of
my ability." I would
call it a sideboard.
I think you had called
it a buffet.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: They're very
interchangeable terms.
What's really lovely
about this piece is that
the finish is almost completely
original. Do you see there's
a color variation along
this front edge? It's
a little lighter, this
warm honey color here?
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Well, that's simply
because when people were
cleaning and dusting it, they
really just focused on dusting
the front edge, so then you
have this transition back to the
back, where it maybe wasn't
dusted as much. That's a really
good way to look at the finish
and have a sense of whether
it's original or not.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: I can tell you $25
was a very good investment.
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: If I were to see this
come up for auction today, I
would expect to see an auction
estimate of between around
about $3,000 and $5,000.
GUEST: Okay. Well, that's
exciting. That's fun.
Now we, now we know.