Coming up for sale at the Fontaine’s sale mentioned in an earlier post is this ebonized Herter Brothers (attr.) carved and gilded, floral inlaid cabinet. The top gallery has a hand-painted hunt scene. Condition is good except for some typical age discoloration to the gilding. Bidding will start at $10,000 and expected range is $20,000 to $30,000. The pictures aren’t up yet (I took this from the catalog), but you can track the listing here.

If you’ll excuse the interruption in the flow of Victorian Furniture for this minor sidestep into Arts and Crafts, I thought I’d mention this great chair coming up for sale by Charles Rohlfs.

Charles started his career as an actor in Boston until his future father-in-law insisted that he choose another career as a condition of marrying his daughter. His wife-to-be was Anna Catherine Green who became one of America’s most famous detective fiction writers. Charles began a career in furniture design after a move to Buffalo, NY. After years of work and successful exhibitions, Rohlfs eventually reached the pinnacle of his career and became a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London and was commissioned to produce a set of chairs for Buckingham Palace. In 1936, the New York Times obituary credited him as the originator of Mission Furniture.

This chair will be sold by Cottone Auctions on September 28th and is expected to bring $30,000-$50,000. You can click on the picture for more images at the Cottone site.

A recent email from a site visitor had me thinking about the fact that most of the famous cabinet makers of their time were at one time not so famous. They had to have an apprentice period in their earlier years and they created furniture for their employers before their own shops were opened and their own signature styles were cemented.

I would imagine that it would be a rare scenario where we could run into a piece or set of furniture produced by John Henry Belter, as an example, before 1844 when he opened his first shop at 40 1/2 Chatham Street. Imagine a Gothic Revival or Empire piece created by John Henry Belter, which is possible given the timing of when he was first in America (he left for America in 1833 and became a citizen in 1839).

The pictures accompanying this blog entry are of a set of 6 chairs probably ca. 1840, early Victorian or “Late Classicism”. I’m no expert and my reference material on this era/style of furniture is slim for me to match the exact back splat, but one of my books suggests similar chairs could have been made in New York or New Jersey (other similar chairs from Massachusetts, etc.).

The curious element of each of these chairs is the “J.H.B” signed on each chair. Could these be pre-Rococo Belters? The chairs may be from New York - during the time he was there - and the initials are correct. How many JHB furniture makers could there have been in New York around 1840?

My sanity checker immediately says it can’t be early Belter work (to which some of you who know Belter work reading this say duh, John, look at them!), but I’m not one to be too lazy to open a few books and think about it for 5 minutes. I’m not saying by any stretch of the imagination that these are by John Henry Belter. It could be that the markings were the eventual customer’s initials or a later addition. We could also find with proper research that they weren’t from New York. However, the chairs did spur me to think about the fact that he had a life before the mid-1840s and 1850s. I view that earlier work no less interesting than the work that he is most famous for.

Thanks to Jerry for stopping by and sending in the pics.

Fontaine’s Auction Gallery is gearing up for a big sale on the 29th and this bedroom set, attributed to Thomas Brooks, will be up for bids. The set is comprised of 100+” tall burled bed and vanity as well as a nightstand. On a small note, the stand is missing it’s pull. Bidding starts at $15,000 with expected range of $30,000 to $35,000. You can view the listing here.

Imagine yourself perusing your local antique shops and finding this lady’s desk in the window, priced aggressively and no one but you noticed how special it was. BJ Laughlin of B and D Furniture with Generation Next Antiques-St. Louis, MO spotted it, knew what it was, and arranged to purchase it.

If you own the “Herter Brothers, Furniture and Interiors for a Gilded Age” book, flip to page 153 and you’ll find an identical desk, currently residing in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Curiously, the one above is not stamped “Herter Bro’s” as the one in the book is. I believe BJ is planning to put this piece up at auction at at Ivey-Selkirk in St. Louis.

Great find BJ. Hopefully there will be many more. Some more comments from BJ:

The museum curator in Houston, Kathrine Howe, has seen my piece as well. Upon her examination the only difference is their desk has a lighter finish and some birdseye maple while my desk is darker and has some burl walnut. She said that through her research of the Herter Brothers life and business that she was aware of a second desk. She said it was exciting to have this information for their archives.

While I was replacing the felt on the writing surface (which wasn’t original by the way….or else I would have left it), I discovered a signature which appears to be a German name. It looks like Joener Zef, but its hard to tell. I did take pictures of the signature. I also read that this was a feature the brothers liked to use when they commissioned certain furniture for someone. They would have their customer’s signature or name written somewhere on the piece, never their own name though.