Up at auction is a George Hunzinger stamped chair, patented in 1866. This chair design is depicted on page 51 of “The Furniture of George Hunzinger, Invention and Innovation in Nineteenth-Century America” by Barry Harwood. The chair is refinished and reupholstered and exhibits Renaissance Revival details.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, many Merklen pieces get misattributed to Hunzinger due to the spiral turnings that both makers were famous for. Hunzinger frequently stamped his pieces which makes it often easy for us 140+ years later to identify his work. Merklen pieces were never stamped and there were no catalogs to survive for us to use as a reference.

A good reference for Merklen pieces is in the article published in the May 2005 issue of the Magazine Antiques by Paul Tucker titled “Moorish Fretwork Furniture”. You will see several tables and chairs in there by Merklen that often get attributed to Hunzinger. You will also read about Moses Younglove Ransom, another underappreciated spiral furniture maker and “designer of interiors”. Paul Tucker’s article mentions a few interesting facts on these makers, such as that Ransom’s moorish spiral panels were incorporated into Merklen furniture pieces, so apparently the two shops had collaborated. Another design element, the claw-and-ball feet always had wooden balls on Merklen tables – never glass. Also, have you seen those grotesque brass brackets supporting the second table surface on parlor tables? This is a trademark of Merklen. According to Paul, Merklen’s were actually bronze per the American Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer.

Armed with Barry’s book and Paul Tucker’s article, you can become much better at properly identifying the work of these great makers. There is a Hunzinger blog done by Emeriol that is also a good Hunzinger reference. Paul Tucker is working on a book about Moorish Fretwork and we hope to profile it here when he’s done. Maybe I can ask Paul if we can borrow his photos from the article to post here for reference…..

As a side note I’d like to compliment and thank the many “furniture friends”, authors, and antique dealers that I have become acquainted with in the short time I’ve done Rare Victorian. The sharing of information between us makes it better for everyone, and those that hold their “trade secrets” close to their vest are missing out on a great sharing community. There is nothing to lose by not sharing your information, only new associations, friends and customers to never gain. I ask that everyone “share” by posting comments to my blog entries or write me directly if you have something to pass on.

Oh yeah, the chair…. it starts at $100 with anticipated range of $1,200-$1,700, ending on August 5th.

Coming up for sale is a Renaissance Revival credenza done in the style that Alexander Roux, Pottier & Stymus, Herter Brothers and the other New York makers would have produced. This piece has gold incising, inlay panels and Neo-Grec ormolu mounts. You’ll note the face of Jenny Lind in an ormolu mount in the center top crest. Bidding ends on July 22nd and starts at a paltry $1,550 but expected range is $19,000 to $21,500. You can view more pictures and details here.

As a side note, if you are interested in learning more about ormolu, you can read a good Wikipedia entry here. According to the article, ormolu pieces by strict definition are rare and were not produced after 1830s due to the health risks posed by the process (mercury fumes). Substitute compositions and processes were developed, which likely were used on the piece above.

Usually I profile a piece before it actually sells, but in this case I’m doing so after the sale. Here’s an Aesthetic pedestal that sold for $2,100 this past weekend on Ebay. A few noteworthy elements of this piece point to it being attributed to Kilian Brothers (courtesy of John Mihos): 1) multi-colored incising. In addition to gold, you will see green (or blue – can’t tell), and red colored incising. 2) Note the double casters with two wheels per caster. I know John was going to bid on it but I see a floor bidder won this one. Next time John….

I ran into yet another carving style for the Jelliff arms after I submitted the post yesterday, so I am adding it here. A Jelliff-attributed sofa just went for sale with the above arms including something I’ve never seen on Jelliff carved bust arms – ebonizing. The sofa is starting at $1,900 and runs until July 14th.

There is a sidechair for sale on Ebay that is not attributed to any particular maker, but by zooming in on the arms one can see a carved Jenny Lind bust that normally would point to the chair being made by John Jelliff. With a starting price of $70 and expected range of $150-$300, this could be a cheap way to get a possible Jelliff piece.

I see plenty of furniture with this identical carved bust on the arms – specifically noting the flat, incised blouse profile vs. a true 3-dimensional carving as is done with the head portion. I have a “Jelliff” parlor set sitting in my garage with this identical bust design. However, take a look at this chair arm below from an attributed Jellif piece and note the 3-dimensional blouse carvings.

You can see another pair of similar arms, this time with the incising retaining some of the original gold. Antiquarian Traders is attributing these chairs to Jelliff as well.

Either one or the other isn’t a Jelliff, or Jelliff had multiple profile designs for his carved Jenny Lind bust arms. This conundrum reminds me of the Schrenkeisen article I’ve mentioned in past.

There are other ways to try to further hone in on whether a piece is by Jelliff. One element pointed out to me by Michael Michadi is that Jelliff may have used rather unique casters as seen below. Note the beading around the edge in brass. The chair I purchased and profiled here also has this beading.

Here’s a chair that Michadi Antiques is selling at their store as part of a parlor set that has the incised form of the carved bust and is attributed to Jelliff.

One day I will run into some more definitive information on the variation in these Jelliff carvings. If anyone out there has this information, please comment on this blog entry below and share with us. After all, why would he bother with two designs?. It is not as if one is markedly superior to the other.

Regardless, I believe the chair profiled at the top will be a good purchase if the price stays in the expected bid range. The fact that the auction house is not attributing it to Jelliff will help keep the price at a “Renaissance Revival chair” level vs. a Jelliff level. Of course there will be those that notice it, and of course, now you know… Here’s the chair in it’s full form and a bonus picture that I requested from the auctioneer of the chair’s casters.