In the catalogue description of the Laird Family chest that sold on January 25, 2025 at Sotheby's, the chest was described as appearing "to retain its original fire-gilt cast brass hardware" early in the text and later was said to retain "its original fire gilt brass hardware." The wording is slightly different, the first quote … Continue reading The Curious Case of the Brass
Fakes
The First Philadelphia Windsor Highchairs
As noted in the last post, Windsor chairmakers in Philadelphia were making highchairs shortly after they began producing high-back Windsor armchairs in the mid-1740s. No highchairs modeled on the earliest Philadelphia high-back Windsors with plain crest rails and shaved arm supports are known to have survived, nor have any highchairs been discovered with Thomas Gilpin's … Continue reading The First Philadelphia Windsor Highchairs
Antique of the Day
I want to thank my colleagues at The Magazine Antiques for highlighting this blog when featuring the spice box sold at Freeman’s last December in their #antiqueoftheday Instagram feed! I also want to make one correction – I am not the one treating the spice box, that project is being carried out by another, very … Continue reading Antique of the Day
Fakes and Forgeries
I was pleased to be asked to speak at the Foundation for Appraisal Education annual conference this weekend at Freeman's. This years theme is fakes and forgeries in the art market. It's an impressive line-up of speakers with at least three of us dealing with the furniture trade. Recently scams have rocked the art world … Continue reading Fakes and Forgeries
In Proportion to the Trouble 