If you’re new to Rare Victorian or you just missed the first-ever post, I’ll mention again that this blog was initially created as a real-time journey as I educate myself in the niche of rare Victorian furniture. This blog just recently hit the one year birthday mark and that makes me very happy since I thought for sure I’d never stick to it that long. I tend to collect hobbies and discard them with reckless abandon. Fortunately, blogging and Victorian furniture has stuck.

While putting my education on display for the world to experience along with me, the hope was that I’d find others out there with a similar interest in Victorian and that we could all learn together. Every post I put out there, I hope that someone out there knows more than I and will share with us all by posting a comment or sending me an email, giving me another crumb of wisdom about a particular piece. When I get those crumbs, I pass them along.

If you remember this post a few posts ago, I showed an image of an attributed Alexander Roux credenza to be sold on the 23rd; the credenza is at the top of this post. Michael O’Docharty of Michadi Antiques shared these images below of a signed Pottier & Stymus table that was unfortunately cut down (turned into a coffee table). The intriguing thing is that the porcelain plaques are identical to the credenza above. While the plaques certainly suggest the credenza could be by P&S, a lot of these plaques were produced outside of the cabinetmakers shop and therefore could show up in various makers’ pieces. While not a smoking gun, it is something to suggest further investigation might be warranted. Take a look at the plaques below:

The credenza auction lot description states that the bronze mounts are identical to two documented Roux cabinets, one at the Met and the other at the Munson-Proctor-Williams Institute. I’ve made a collage of the mounts from the three pieces:

The images I had to work with (hopefully they’ll forgive me for borrowing pieces of them for educational use) were not intended to be high detail for purposes such as this, but I feel that the mounts on this credenza (the third) do not match the first two (the signed Roux pieces). The size proportion isn’t the same. That may open the door further for a case for P&S. There are other elements of the three cabinets that point to the two museum pieces possibly being different from the third:

Many times P&S mounts have markings behind them, so the owner (Lise Bohm?) might be able to check that to be sure.

Thanks to Michael for sharing his table pics and the lead.

Note to self: The top center mount on the Roux cabinet at Munson-Proctor-Williams is the same as the unattributed cabinet they also own save for a small decoration added to the top (see pages 104, 107 and the cover of their book).

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Up for sale is a center table attributed to Pottier & Stymus by Heritage Auction Galleries. Circa 1870, this table includes Rosewood, ebonized and giltwood elements with marquetry inlay. The chalice in the stretcher is usually a good sign of a high-end maker such as Herter Brothers or in this case, Pottier & Stymus (attr. and unmarked). 29.75 inches high x 47.5 inches wide x 33 inches deep. Bidding starts at $3,750 and expected range is $15,000 to $25,000 though I don’t anticipate it to come near the higher end.

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Up for bidding is a 1870’s Renaissance Revival cabinet with wedgewood plaques. According to the seller, the cabinet is mahogany with pine on the back with bronze ormolu mounts, brass trimming, gilt incising, and an inlay detail line on the top areas. There are actually three plaques: one round on each door flanking the mirror and one rectangular plaque above the mirror. This style cabinet is similar to those executed by Alexander Roux. The seller also suggests Pottier & Stymus or Herter Brothers. Regardless of maker, this is a nice piece for a buy-it-now price of $2,690.00 and ends February, 22nd. The cabinet is located in Virginia and the listing can be seen here. You can learn a bit more about Neo-grec style from the Metropolitan Museum of Art here.

There is also a Neo-grec center table that will be sold on Saturday the 16th by Wendler’s Auction. The table includes inlayed musical instruments, marble center, ebonized accents, and giltwood faces. The seller is attributing the piece to Herter Bros. Bidding starts at $2,000 and the expected range is $5,000 to $7,000. A similarly styled table just sold for $17,625 at Neal Auction Company. You can see the listing for the table below here.

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