As Michael Flanigan said in this Antiques Roadshow appraisal, if this table hadn’t been branded “Herter Bros”, I would have passed it off as a nice Rosewood Renaissance Revival table. However this is indeed a true Herter Brothers table that originated from the estate of Darius Ogden Mills, a wealthy Californian that made his money during the gold rush. Mills’ name is written on the underside in pencil.
This is one of those cases where the owner didn’t realize the great deal that he had gotten for a mere $477. He thought that the Herter Brothers brand was just a “burn mark”.
I won’t spoil the surprise of the final appraisal price for his $477 investment. You can watch the full video segment here.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I just bought the same form of table in Virginia with drawers in each end. The drawer fronts and sides have large inlaid panels. The top has inlay around the leather insert and the ends of the top has intricate incising. The table also has a very high end urn finial with elaborate leaf carving. Price was $17,250.
A very elaborate table in the same form with a wonderful inlaid top sold at Neal’s several years ago in the mid $40K range if I remember right.
In today’s marketplace that is a 10 to 15K table even with the Mills provenance.
Agreed. The simplicity of this particular table detracts from the famous provenance.