In my opinion, Neal Auction is being a bit conservative in their attribution on this chair. I’m always very appreciative of Neal’s condition information and research that they provide with their listing and I feel they are consistently careful not to go out on a limb on attributing a maker unless they have a good case. I learn a lot from their catalogs which provide additional historical background on pieces that you will not necessarily get within their online listings.

In the case above with the Modern Gothic chair, Neal Auction has attributed it to Kimbel & Cabus. Judging by the image of the chair to the left from K&C’s 1875-ish catalog that the Smithsonian has, Neal has more than an attribution case.  I would say the chair is absolutely made by Kimbel & Cabus save for one concern: the incising on the sides above and below the seat appear to be missing on the Neal chair.  Hard to be sure from one distant image.  If it is indeed missing, it is likely a design variation for K&C.  Even the stretcher has a small notch in the center of both examples.  More at the listing for the chair.

Neal has a good sale coming up in 8 days and I’ll profile more items in the days coming.  In the meantime,  here’s a link to peruse the full online catalog.

Everyone have a great weekend!

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The darkened pictures on this listing belie the quality of this very large Modern Gothic dresser. I doctored up this picture (lightened it) so as to give you a better grasp of the quality of this piece. Clicking on the image above will provide a larger image with greater detail. Clicking on the image again will allow you to zoom in and out further.

This one is a beauty and the seller states that it is so massive that it takes 4 men to carry the mirror alone. Once again, I am saddened, however to find that the massive matching bed was separated and sold previously for $8,000, so we are stuck with a one-off piece forever separated from it’s brethren. Sorry to get anthropomorphic on you, but separation of matching pieces is one of my pet peeves.

The current price of $999, I believe, is a fair price for a piece of this magnitude and quality. If can think of a spot for it, I may even throw my hat in the ring. Bidding ends tomorrow and more images and details can be found at the listing.

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I’m heading to Ohio for business meetings (for my day job) on Monday and Tuesday and I’ve decided to head there early for the weekend. I’m a University of Dayton grad and lived in Ohio for 7 years so I have friends to visit with. It just so happens that Cowan’s is having an auction nearby on Saturday so why not sit in on the action while I’m visiting? If there are any Rare Victorian readers out there also going, let me know.

One of the lots being sold in this sale on Saturday is the Modern Gothic bedroom set of which two pieces are pictured above. It is attributed to Isaac E. Scott a Chicagoan that started his career in Philadelphia in the 1860s and moved to Chicago in 1873. He was deemed the originator of a style of “Art Carving” claimed unique and indigenous to Chicago that was explained in Art Journal in 1876 as such:

“the decoration of wooden panels by placing successive layers of different kinds of wood together, and carving away the several strata, preserving form as well as outline, and thus securing from the different materials the same effects obtained in cameo-cutting…”

This bedroom set does not employ the technique but rather employs birds-eye Maple veneer and inset tiles as decorative elements. Bidding starts at $2,000 for this four-piece set and expected range is $4,000 to $6,000. More information and images at the listing.

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