Somebody make me feel better about missing this cabinet for $1,500.  I was asleep at the wheel on that one.  As I stated in the earlier post, I would be watching the price on this as a temperature guage for the health of the Victorian antique furniture market and never did I think it would go for $1,500.  Please tell me that they dropped it during the auction and it sold for scrap parts. Tell me the veneer was peeling all over the place. It makes me queasy for two reasons: 1) I missed a good buy, and 2) not a good sign of the current state of things.

And now, to distract myself, I will move onto another topic.  Take a look at this bed that I captured with my (lame) camera phone.  I’m tempted to purchase it due to the carving quality, but I was interested if anyone had seen a bed with similar carvings elsewhere.  Although the overall bed is simple, the crest on the headboard and footboard carvings are exceptionally fine.  I won’t attribute it to Alexander Roux by any means, but it reminds me of the quality of some of his hunt sideboard carvings.  The camera phone photos just don’t capture the detail too well.

$1,500 for that cabinet … sheesh.

Related items currently available for sale

Brunk Auctions will be putting up the above credenza on July 12th with an expected range $3,000-$6,000.  These cabinets are a staple in the Victorian furniture auctions, yet to me they do very little more than provide a showy piece of furniture in your house - they prop up a statue or vase in grand style.

It can’t be used to store books (properly) nor can it be used to display decorative items.  Well, I guess it could, but do you hide your decorative items in a closed cabinet?  I can tell you that mine is essentially empty save for the clean bag of rags I had put there as I was cleaning it.  Nonetheless, these cabinets are show-stoppers and if I could have 10 of them, I would.

Due to the questionable utility and space-gobbling presence in your home, I would consider these cabinets the canary in the coal mine for the higher-end Victorian antique furniture market.  Even though I wouldn’t use a single piece to provide a temperature for the market, it can provide a good datapoint to set aside.  If it sells for $5-$6,000, it would be in-line with recent trends.   if it sells between $3,000-$4,000, then there is a datapoint for an even stronger buyers market than we already have.

Lot details and more photos here.

Related items currently available for sale

Kamelot Auctions in Philadelphia will be selling this inlaid credenza on April 12th, but I imagine that their turnout will not be as strong this time around as they have timed their sale simultaneously with opening day of the Philadelphia Antiques Show.

As you can see from the image above, there is a carved female head figure affixed to this cabinet - and no, that doesn’t mean that it is made by John Jelliff (Kamelot also did not attribute it to any particular maker). I hope to do my part to dispel the myth that Jelliff produced everything that incorporated these carvings. As regular Rare Victorian readers are aware, the Ornamental Wood Company made this particular carving and it is #114, shown below from their 1874 catalog.

Any cabinetmaker could buy these component carvings in bulk and add them to their furniture. I would bet that Ornamental Wood is not the only company producing similar carvings, either. I’ll extend my plea once again to request anyone with information (company name, catalogs) on the suppliers for the carved arms which were added to Jelliff and M & H Schrenkeisen parlor furniture, please contact me.

Bidding will start at $3,000 and the expected range is $3,000 to $5,000. More images of the cabinet can be found here.

I’m retiring from trying to figure out what cabinet maker made a particular credenza as it is just a mind-bending exercise to do. Cabinet makers didn’t need to make furniture from scratch; they could import components from Europe or purchase them locally and integrate these elements into their pieces. The inlay panels were purchased, the hardware purchased, bronze or Wedgewood plaques were purchased. Now I’m observing that the central decorative panel and decorative trim across these two pieces from different makers seems to be common as well. I’m wondering if the cabinet makers from the 19th century made any aspect of these cabinets themselves.

I’m now sure that there was a Credenza Depot store in New York in the 19th century where you could buy 90% of your cabinet already pre-made in pieces and you just needed to nail it together. I’m starting to think that the Herter Brothers were the only makers of these cabinet forms that didn’t shop there.

I can see it now, William Stymus sends Auguste Pottier to Credenza Depot on a bronze plaque run and Auguste is shuffling his cart through the aisles and runs into Thomas Godey. Thomas is in town from Baltimore visiting his Aunt in New York and thought he’d stop by and get some carved pilasters while he’s there. They exchange pleasantries and notice that they both have the same inlay panels in their shopping carts…. Later, Godey runs into Roux at the register who is getting a price check on the carved deer heads from the endcap….

but I digress…

The second cabinet has an affixed Thomas Godey label solidly linking the maker with the cabinet. The first credenza is a dead ringer for a Pottier & Stymus cabinet in the Herter Brothers book on page 69 except for colors. The documentation linking P&S as the maker is very strong. In the words of the book, “The Pottier & Stymus piece is significant especially because it is one of the few by this firm that is securely documented.”

Obviously there is much that is different between the P&S and Godey cabinets and I’m not presenting them as a match. However, this is the first time that I’ve noticed the identical central panel trim across two well-documented pieces from two makers who aren’t even in the same city. Take the plaques out and you have a 95% match on that panel. I didn’t even mention the pilasters on these two cabinets yet. The same. All four on each. So add that to the list of stock items available at Credenza Depot.

The top cabinet will be sold by Fontaine’s on Saturday and I think they nailed the P&S attribution correctly. You can see more pics and detail here.

If you want to further confuse yourself like I am, you can read this earlier post.

Doyle New York is listing this unlabeled cabinet as being done in the manner of Herter Brothers, but I think that there is a chance that it was made in Baltimore by Thomas Godey. It reminds me of a labeled Godey cabinet that was sold in 2005 by Neal auction which I think was the cabinet from the High Museum of Art and was included in the book, Art & Enterprise on page 126.

The side panel patterns are identical in design and notice the ebonized trim on the three front panels, with the center one having a curved top trim and overhangs on two sides. If this isn’t by Godey, I think there would be a case for plagiarism.

They are expecting a range of $5,000 to $10,000 and are starting the bidding at $2,500. The labeled Godey cabinet below sold for $51,700.