Before I address the preferences, habits, and construction attributes of the shop that produced the Wistar family high chest and dressing table I will attempt to clear up some confusion concerning several issues relating to the appearance and materials of the pair that have puzzled previous historians. In Philadelphia Cabinetmaking and Commerce, 1718-1753: The Account … Continue reading “All Right Everyone, Line Up Alphabetically According To Your Height.” Casey Stengel
John Head
A Rising Tide (Dial)
The Peter Stretch arch-dial 8-day clock housed in a cherry case attributed to the joiner John Head sold at Sotheby’s this past Saturday for $348,500 (hammer price plus buyer’s premium), a sum above its high estimate of $300,000. While not a record for an American tall case clock - that belongs to another Peter Stretch … Continue reading A Rising Tide (Dial)
Chest of Drawers at Sotheby’s
The chest of drawers attributed here, but not by the auction house, to the Philadelphia joiner John Head sold at Sotheby's this past Thursday. The hammer price was $26,000. With the "buyers premium" now at 25 percent, the total price was $32,000. This was more than 2 and a half times the high estimate but … Continue reading Chest of Drawers at Sotheby’s
“To a Chest of Drawers”
In January 1990 Christie’s sold the collection of May and Howard Joynt of Alexandria, Virginia. Lot 469 was described as “A Fine William And Mary Walnut Chest Of Drawers, Pennsylvania, 1720-1740” and carried an estimate of $6,000-$9,000. On January 19th, 2017, Sotheby’s will sell the same chest now described as A Very Fine and Rare … Continue reading “To a Chest of Drawers”
John Head, Joyner
In May 1999, during research on other material in the George Vaux Papers that in 1992 had been deposited at the American Philosophical Society, Jay R. Stiefel discovered an extraordinary record of the shop production and barter of goods and services of the immigrant joiner John Head (born Suffolk, England 1688 – died Philadelphia 1754.) … Continue reading John Head, Joyner
In Proportion to the Trouble 