A Shotgun Wedding?

In furniture, a married piece is one that is made up of two or more sections that did not begin life together but are joined for now. A book shelf added to a desk to make a secretary for instance. Sometimes it’s done for profit, to make new “valuable” antique out of spare parts. Other times it might be that people are just trying to salvage something useful out of parts we might have sent to the dump. People don’t always have the luxury of buying new.

That’s what I think happened with this piece. I saw it at an auction last week. I don’t think it came like this from the factory.

Not seen another like it.

Looks just as odd from the side:

The question remains, why?

Maybe we cam learn something from the back:

Maybe, we can’t.

Backboards are all the same with and age:

But they are all repurposed.

I particularly like this patch:

Well disguised. I can hardly see it.

Interesting that a piece like this has a mitered joint with a through tenon in the upper molding:

Adventures in pumpkin pine.

A look at the top doesn’t tell you much either:

Only the finest wood used here.

This cupboard is odd enough that I went back a second day for another look. I didn’t learn much from my second view. The quality of the wood is different between the two halves. Different finishes with a different level of preparation.

It’s just a really odd piece in a world full of odd pieces.

There were a few other things of interest at the auction. This dresser, for instance:

Flat screen and DVD player not original to the piece

Two interesting things looking at the dovetailed drawer:

Interesting how close to the rounded surface the tail is cut.The nails are a nice touch.

If I understood this carved cabinet, I might have bid on it:

Other than it looks old, I don’t get it. And I don’t own it.

To see the highlights of the auction, click HERE.

There is a this leather rocking chair you have to see…

Desk II: OOPS – A Graphic Blog with Words

I present another cautionary tale of what happens when you don’t take time to fully examine design elements, even ones that seems relatively minor. A badly placed sliver of wood can muck things up in unexpected ways.

Let’s examine this typical slant front desk:

A desk like hundred others I’ve seen.

Take a quick look at the back of the desk:

Interesting but not really germane.

A unique feature is this decoration on the bracket feet:

Not something I’ve seen before but there is so much furniture I have yet to see.

Today’s lesson exists in the gallery:

Looks ordinary and conventional. And it is, six drawers, a prospect and two document boxes (the door in the center and those skinny drawers on either side of it).

A closer view of the central area starts the narrative of the fail:

Quite handsome. No handles but big moldings.

Usually, if there are no handles on the boxes, there is some assist mechanism inside the prospect:

As is true here, a cutout in the back of the prospect that allows you to get your fingers behind the boxes and nudge them out.

The size of the molding on the right document box keeps the door from opening fully in turn prevents you opening any of the three drawers:

Hope there wasn’t anything you needed in the drawers.

The other problem you run into is that to open the door wide enough use the drawers, you need to remove the right document box. But if you open the door wide enough to get to the cutout in the back of the prospect, the door blocks the removal of the document box.

Not related to that issue the shrinkage of the wood making the sides of the document box:

A couple of splits and a little simple math.

 

I saw another example of questionable design in a secretary I saw at MESDA (Museum of Southern Decorative Arts) in Winston Salem. It was in this secretary:

An above average secretary. Lots going on here.

Then you see the back of the prospect door:

Was it known in advance that they needed to provide clearance for the drawer pulls or did they discover it the first time they tried to close the door?

One of the truly great mysteries of furniture design. We will never know.

It is claimed that George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate (in Asheville, NC, built 1889 to 1895) was one of the first residences to have fully plumbed bath tubs. The tubs all have overflow drains. Was this need anticipated or discovered?

A Museum With Room Service.

Waiting at baggage claim in Cape Town, South Africa last year, my wife and I struck up a conversation with a local. We were there on vacation. My wife was celebrating a numerically significant birthday and wanted an adventure. She must have subtly or casually communicated this information to the travel agent for we received better treatment then we deserved for the entire trip. All with congratulations.

Our new friend asked us where we staying while in town. We answered The Cape Grace Hotel. This pleased our companion greatly. They said in their experience, it was one of the finest hotels in Cape Town and possibly all of South Africa. We were excited to be staying at such a fine hotel but grew fearful that they might not accept our Days Inn points, not that we are always able to stay at a place as nice as a Days Inn.

We claimed our luggage and the rental car and headed out in search our lodgings. I brought my own GPS so there would be one less random thing to confuse me. I’m certain they have GPS’s there but I know how mine works. All I had to do was buy the South African map.

After a short, efficient drive, we arrived at the hotel. I circled the parking lot twice looking for the pop-up trailer that I assumed would be our home for the next few days. Not finding it, we went inside to check with reception. Turns out we had a room IN the hotel. We chose to ignore their apparent lack of due diligence and accepted the key.

The Cape Grace is a very nice hotel as I expected. What I wasn’t expecting was the fact that the common areas were populated with high-end antiques. Like this armoire:

The South Africans have a fondness for contrasting tones.

There are antiques in the lobby, in the hallways, in the elevator lobbies and any other place a guest may wander.

More case pieces with this dresser:

Continuing with the contrasting wood.

With this interesting bead detail on the drawer sides.

Near the dining room was this unique storage bin/shelf unit:

Holding yet more antiques. I didn’t check in the bin.

At the hallway ends are collections of stacked antiques.

Dressers and cabinets and chests, oh my…

This is one of my favorite contrasting pieces:

Contrasting wood and wedged dovetails. I’m gonna have to build me one.

They have painted furniture as well:

Three of many.

This, they claim, is one of the most iconic of Cape Furniture, the riempiesbank:

Named derived from the thin leather strips plaited (braided) to form the riempies seat.

And there are tools all over the place:

Nice wall hangers.

You can see a reasonable sample of the Cape Grace Collection by clicking HERE.

 

Desk – A Graphic Blog

Look at enough furniture and you can see some very unusual things. Some things that you would not expect but make sense if only sort of and in context. Like this desk:

It’s a desk. Says so on the price tag.

With a fold-out writing surface.

Odd mix of hardware.

Drop pulls on the doors. There are fans of drop pulls amongst you and this is a chance to show some non-Victorian drop pulls.

Chippendale pulls and escutcheons.

This desk has character in that not all things are perfectly aligned.

My finely honed instincts lead me to believe these might not be the original pulls.

Lots of storage on top.

Drawers and shelves in the center.

Unique doors.

Very shallow chamfer on the door panel. Unusual for a chamfer to extend to over 1/3 of the panel width.

Dovetailed drawers proving this desk is very old and of the highest quality.

Now it gets interesting. (Finally!)

Pigeonholes in the left compartment.

The interesting part.

The door stop is a part of a folding rule that Sam*, the apprentice, has ruined. Cleverly, the screws are not inline minimizing the chance of splitting. The astute among you (with much knowledge and too much time) can probably discern which rule it’s from.

The right compartment might or might not have been pigeon holes with missing parts. Might have been vertical file storage. Here the vertical in continuous while on the left, the horizontal are continuous.

But one common element is the use of a bit of Sam’s broken rule as a door stop with offset screws.

This shop was also the home of:

The Roorkhee stool, or something like it.

and

The metal Windsor chairs.

• With apologies to the authors, editors and publisher of The Joiner and Cabinet Maker.

 

Lots of Stickleys

There were five Stickley brothers, all involved in furniture production in the late 19th to early 20th century. Between and amongst them, they were involved with nine furniture companies but never more than three of the brothers in any company.

The oldest and most well known Stickley was Gustave (later truncated to Gustav). He was a major proponent of the Arts  & Crafts movement. He so believed in the movement that he expanded his business beyond furniture to include metalwork and textiles, home building and a magazine, The Craftsman. His Craftsman Workshops was absorbed by L. & J.G. Stickley in 1916.

Leopold and John George Stickley founded L. & J. G. Stickley, Inc. in the early 1900’s. Incorporation is easier if you don’t use a fictional name. They had their own line of Arts and Crafts furniture and expanded the line when they acquired their brother Gustav(e)’s company. Their company is the only surviving Stickley company and is know now as Stickley Audi.

Stickley was able to survive by changing with the times. In the 1910’s, the American public turned away from Art & Crafts and Mission furniture and enthusiastically embraced Colonial Revival furniture. Colonial revival had its roots in the 1870’s Centennial celebrations. It exploded in the early 20th century with a wave of nostalgia for the simpler and more innocent times (that might have never been). Wallace Nutting, one of the ringleaders and most opportunistic merchants of the era, was quoted as saying: “Whatever is new, is bad.”

Gustav Stickley offered a few Colonial and Chinese Chippendale pieces for sale in the early 1900’s. L. & J. G. made a more extensive collection in their Cherry Valley Furniture.

I am bringing this up because I noticed 12 (or 13) pieces in a recent local auction. I thought it unusual to see so many vintage pieces from one maker and felt compelled to share it with you.

And here it is.

We know it’s Stickley ’cause it says so.

L & J.G. Stickley Chippendale Style Corner Cupboard – Sold for $340.

This is a construction detail not consistent with historic practices. If you make a reproduction of this piece, would you have to use screw hole plugs?

L & J.G. Stickley Chippendale Style China Cabinet – Sold for $260

L & J.G. Stickley Colonial Revival Bookcase – Sold for $260

L & J.G. Stickley, Colonial Revival Hutch – Sold for $260

L & J.G. Stickley, Chippendale Style Chest of Drawers – Sold for $210

L & J.G. Stickley Chippendale Style Chest of Drawers – Sold for $240

L & J.G. Stickley Chippendale Style Diminutive Dresser – Sold for $150

L & J.G. Stickley Double Pedestal Dining Table – Sold for $340

Set of Eight Banister Back Dining Chairs-Sold for $225. Not identified as Stickley but from the same era and estate.

L & J.G. Stickley, Colonial Revival Side Table -Sold for $130

Another screw hole plug. How 50’s.

L & J.G. Stickley Queen Anne Style Candlestand – Sold for $70

L & J.G. Stickley Colonial Revival Drop Side Table – Sold for $100

L & JG Stickley Trumeau – Sold for $75

Trumeau definition, a mirror having a painted or carved panel above or below the glass in the same frame

or

A trumeau mirror or pier glass is a wall mirror originally manufactured in France in the 18th century. It takes its name from the French word trumeau, which designates the space between windows. In England it is normally known as a ‘pier glass’.

 

Further Research Provides No Answers

Back in June, I sent Chris Schwarz some pictures of an alleged Mexican workbench discovered at an antiques shop in Santa Fe, NM. He was amused and after a few exchanged messages, I suggested the best thing to do would be to offer it to the readers to provide some insight.

And this he did. In HIS Lost Art Press blog.

I was initially a tiny bit miffed but he was right to do it. He has well over a million followers and I have around 17. 23 if you don’t count my family and friends. I still don’t understand it but numbers don’t lie. His blog was titled Solve the Mexican Workbench Mystery and you can read it by clicking on the title.

Some context:

The Bench

The screw

The chop

The joinery

The details

Mr. Schwarz wrote:

My first (and fifth) reaction:  A Narwhal and some ship’s tackle had a baby. And it didn’t live….

I was even more surprised to read some readers’ comments in which they speculate that  it is either assembled incorrectly or an invention made from spare parts by an unscrupulous dealer.

Two weeks later, while researching a different topic, I happened upon a Popular Woodworking blog from February of 2014. The blog featured a picture of this Mexican bench:

Similar but two unfortunate Narwhals involved.

You can find the PW blog HERE.

Fell free to form your own conclusions.