Featured A Tale of Two Chippendale Chairs (with a hero)

LOL, OK, Just checkin! I'd say Brad is going to be disappointed to hear that! he collects that " heavy clunky oak furniture in the Stickley/Mission and Arts and Crafts style"
No reason a period chippendale chair can't fit in a craftsman bungalow, it'll look good, better than the repro you have for sure.

 

It's immensely popular here too. My friend who owns a Queen Anne\Craftsman Bungalow mix down the street spent thousands on used reproduction Stickley furniture recently. I had to drive him in my truck all over creation to get it. Brad is busy on his hoarder project, so he probably will never see this post but if he does I apologize for casting aspersions on his collection. I didn't start off wanting a period chair but after I saw the difference, there was no contest.

 

Yeah, there is a big difference between a period piece & repro no doubt, usually a big price difference as well though, Ditto for the Mission style as well.
Tell your friend he should get ONE piece of period mission if he's into it, a well known dealer is out there close to you. It comes up at auction sales fairly often as well.
https://www.acstickley.com/

 

Or if he's really lucky, Roycroft. It used to sell for absolutely SILLY money. No idea about these days.

 

I'll talk to him about it. He did a massive restoration and upgrade on this house over the last 30 years with his own hands. He is still working on it. It is absolutely gorgeous. A recent change in his personal life caused him to have to replace a lot of furniture, though.

 

These days he can get really nice antique solid wood for cheap. Lousy for dealers, but great for someone with an old house.

 

Definitely reading this …. to each his own What I collect has dropped like a lead balloon out of fashion these days. I don't mind other than I can no longer make a living selling it.

 

Brad. I was hoping you wouldn't see my characterization of your furniture. It sells like hotcakes here. A man at the gym I go to spent $28,000 on his custom living room Stickley so he could have furniture that matched his house. I'm sure your personal collection is quite lovely.

 

And those falling prices mean you may some day soon find a Roycroft living room set in the local Ill Will! We can dream, right?

 

Uhhhhhhh Nooooo, not gonna happen. The top 10% in almost all furniture styles may not be increasing & down some from their salad days but, outstanding examples are still selling for big bucks.
This is actually a GOOD THING! i think. It allows many more people to collect at a higher level and spreads the wealth of better examples across a wider audience.

 

@evelyb30 To prove James' point, this chair was the first item in the auction. It was estimated to go for $20-40K. It went for $84,500 (with buyer's premium)

 

That was a southern 18th century chair built in Charleston SC so kinda a special case. Southern early pieces generally go for more than NE pieces do simply because they are more rare due to climate & war.
Still, point taken, the top of the market still sells for big bucks. Even Victorian furniture which has taken a HUGE hit on middle market furniture sells for big money at the top of the market.

 

This is true and you have to have a good eye for pieces. This nice probably Chester County (PA) desk was painted pink when it came up for auction. Sold for under $200 about 10 years ago. Look at the beautiful shells.

 

Wowser! This is drop dead gorgeous. Is it yours?

 

And what blithering idiot painted it PINK?!

 

That was my thought too.

 

Very nice slant lid, I like the ogee bracket feet. Yes, odd that it was painted but, it's all better now!

 

We have been disbursing some of the nicer family pieces over the last couple of years to son, daughter, nieces and nephews. This now resides in a beloved niece's period colonial home.
I agree about who in their right mind would have painted it pink. We have a few other pieces that some dummies painted at one time. Hopefully when the present generation of furniture painters see the error of their ways, some of it will be restored.

 

What a job it must have been to get all that paint off. I'm glad it went to someone who will love it.

 

Nice chair! Curious how much it will cost to ship?

You have more guts than me to buy at auction without seeing it firsthand in preview. The provenance helps, but nothing beats looking and feeling up close what you're going to be bidding on.