Featured John Bieber & the Edelweiss Chest

The molding profile on till lid is exactly the same as mine.

 

A new batch of photos today from Freemans, below is lid .
As you can see, lid has a very faint outline of original decoration and this would be considered "good". Most chests of this age there is nothing but wood, no paint left at all which is not surprising since they were well used. Everything from a seat to butchering hogs happened on these lids.

 

This is very interesting and informative - the comparison between this chest and yours.

 

Yes is, at least to me, it confirms thru construction details my chest is in fact what I thought it might be, an 18th-century chest built in the Bieber joiner shop.
Freemans speculates their chest has it's original feet ("The feet and paint appear to be original (aside from the retouches mentioned above"). I doubt that. In fact there is only one Bieber chest extant that does have it's original feet intact and those were removed from the chest, restored and then reattached to the chest.
To be honest, I like my chest better, much better & more accurate restore job on my feet for example and what the feet looked like originally. Those high bracket feet that are unique to the Bieber shop and yes, fragile. (another design flaw like their breadboard ends on lid)
And now to see what it brings, 4 days until the sale.

 

i find your process fascinating and am so glad you are willing to share it. Looking at the details as I have learned here, has stopped me from buying "antique" furniture that are really reproductions. Something I did often before coming here. I am excited to hear how the sale goes.

 

Today is THE sale day, I am going to guess 26k on this chest which is below the low estimate, kinda hard to predict these things though. Any time you have foo-foo people involved, it can get squirrely in a hurry.
I'll post sale price later today.

 

Are you bidding?

 

Nope, I already have my Bieber chest

 

I thought so but I know you like a challenge

 

There were only 2 bids, 1 for 27k and the other for 28k so the lot was passed.
A little surprised seller had a reserve, 28k with BP would have been $34,600.

 

Very interesting. Apparently the seller was looking for a more substantial number. Will the auction house keep it around or does the seller have to remove it until he can do a better job in jining up interest?

 

Seller has to remove it. The foo-foo people didn't bite, at all.
That was a very fair number that was offered IMO, the feet were replaced despite what Freeman's claimed, there was inpainting as well as wood replacements.
Bieber is just not well known enough for the foo-foo people, at least not yet. Seller made a mistake in my view, 34k was fair considering.

 

Thank you for these insights. Adds to the seller's costs without any benefit except to assuage his unrealistic expectations of the market for this, then. So you think you'll see it again?

 

No telling but I kind of doubt it any time soon, Freeman's is in Philly so if not there, where? Certainly not Pook which is sorta out in the country & would not have taken a reserve so high I don't think.
These are Pennsylvania German objects so not likely to get a better price than in Philadelphia.
Seller gambled and lost, not likely to do better on a re-run, to the contrary, more likely to get less than offered today.

 

Bird in Hand.

 

Worth two in Paradise?

 

Exactly! Going forward people will think something is wrong with the chest, it will cause them to pause, I know I would.
Kinda like putting an unreasonable sale price on your house and, even though you drop the price to where it should have been in the first place, it makes people skittish, something must be wrong with that house? They pause!
It was obvious what happened this morning, ONLY 2 bids most likely from old furniture peeps, no other bids were entered on screen. PASSED
35k was very fair for all concerned, buyer & seller.
Foo Foo gambit failed! and likely seller will come to regret his/her decision.

 

LOL, Here we go, AGAIN! At the same auction house (Freeman's) with a REDUCED estimate, 15-25k.
This same chest was offered last Oct at the same house with a 30-50k estimate and got a 28k hammer, 35k with BP offer which was refused by the seller.
Sale is April 27, I'll be interested to see what happens in round #2
https://www.freemansauction.com/auc...941&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=0&mc=2&pp=96&pn=1&g=1

 

Ha! Following this with interest
Happy to see you

 

So it didn't meet the reserve the first time? Wonder what made the seller change their mind.

(BTW: like your avatar. That's a beautiful tree. Is it near you? Do you know how old it is?)