For some reason the Allen and Brother pieces are coming out of the woodwork after not seeing any for months. Lewis & Maese Auction Company is bringing this cabinet up for sale on October 24th and have it marked as a Herter Brothers cabinet. I’m not an expert on Allen and Brother by any means but I have the Magazine Antiques issue from 1996 that featured this maker and the cover photo has the identical inlaid decorative front.

I know that you can’t rely on inlay work in isolation to identify a maker’s work (they were easy to buy and identical designs would show up across makers), but this cabinet has other hallmarks of Allen and Brother. The dimensions of this cabinet are within an inch, simultaneously in all three measurements, of the cabinet featured on the cover. The overall form is the same. The feet have the same funnel shape. The two columns in front project out from the cabinet on two extended areas of the base. I believe it to be more likely Allen and Brother than Herter.

No condition report is available on the listing but in looking at the marble, I don’t believe it to be original. Bidding starts at $2,000 and range is $3,000 to $4,000, which would be a bargain for this maker if my attribution is correct.

Including buyers premium, the aforementioned Besarel mirror fetched $156,000 ($130k hammer price) when it closed yesterday. During the same auction, the Allen and Brother pieces I have posted about brought mixed results. The sofa brought a disappointing $17,500 hammer price (expected $20k plus) and the credenza brought a healthy $48,000 hammer price. Even though that is below the $50-$75,000 expected range, I think $48,000 is a handsome result. I think the sofa would have done much better with an elegantly executed reupholstering job as the existing upholstery looked old and cheaply done.

Since seeing Allen and Brother items for sale is rare, I thought I’d mention this sofa (attributed to Allen & Bro.) that will be auctioned off in the same sale as the Allen and Brother credenza that I previously posted about. You can see an identical sofa in the May 1996 “The Magazine Antiques” article by Page Talbott on page 720.

There is a nice balance of the use of ebonizing on this piece and the winged griffins holding shields is a unique design element. I’m also fond of the two front center legs and how they angle outward rather than the usual perpendicular orientation. Bidding ends on the 13th with a starting price of $10,000 and expected range of $20,000 to $30,000. More details here.

Somedays I wonder if the top 5 favorite Victorian cabinet makers list that my subconscious maintains without my permission (I try not to play favorites) would be topped by Allen and Brother. This credenza surely stands near the top of my favorites list as it has all the juicy goodies such as the bronze plaque with female figure, beautiful burl treatments, ebonizing, and Egyptian Revival winged Sphinxes.

If you’d like to learn more about Allen and Brothers, you can read this article from Page Talbott, taken from the May 1996 issues of The Magazine Antiques. I just grabbed an original copy of this issue for $2.00 on Ebay since the web version does not include the images.

Bidding on the credenza will begin at $25,000 with expected range of $50,000 to $75,000. It will be sold on October 13th.