Featured John Bieber & the Edelweiss Chest

My thinking WITHOUT examination is ( always a sketchy proposition), It's a period Bieber chest that has been inpainted/overpainted which right away scares away the "folk art" people, GOOD! i say, they just get in the way of old furniture people and drive up prices.
It probably has replaced feet as well.
Pook was down on the chest i feel mostly because of the paint and losing the folk art crowd, always a cash cow on this type of object.
If it is a Bieber built chest, even with above noted issues, I SCORED!
If it's a period 1780 chest NOT built by the Bieber shop, it's a fairly expensive decorator antique piece.

 

it's still lovely............but I get where you're at !!

GO BIEBER !!!!!!!!

 

Beautiful in any case!

 

The author of the article & director of folklife institute is Richard Shaner, the author of the book just published is Richard L.T. Orth and Orth's mentor? Richard Shaner who happens to be 80 some years old. And who is Richard Shaner's grandmother? Mary Bieber!
And who supplied the gorgeous professional photographs for the Orth book? Pook & Pook! You get the idea, all these people have known & worked with each other all their lives and are probably family related.

 

or in cahoots !!!

 

LOL, that's possible!
Somehow, i am thinking the owner of this chest, at 80 some years old now whose grandmother is Mary Bieber has pretty much all played out that way if so inclined.
IT'S A BIEBER CHEST! After all, he's had this chest for at least 23 years!
i think.............

 

CONGRATULATIONS!! @James Conrad !!!! I DO believe you've earned it!!!!!!!!!!

 

That notion has crossed my mind more than once!
Still, i don't think so, for 1 thing, Richard Shaner graduated college in 1960 and his day job? school teacher. Which puts him in a perfect position to pursue his passion, which he has done for the past 60 years. Another thing is, the Bieber clan of joiners were pretty much unknown/unacknowledged until very recently, except of course to Shaner & other Bieber family members.
Naturally, i could be all wrong about this, i didn't have much time to work with on my alleged skullduggery thingy!

If it turns out i am wrong, i blame @KikoBlueEyes because i burned up all my skullduggery on HER CHAIR! And simply didn't have enough left in the tank to pull this off, i ran outa gas!

 

Meanwhile, just got a call from shipper, Pook called him and explained Governor of PA ordered a mandatory SHUTDOWN of ALL but "life-sustaining" businesses to shut down.
Lovely.
This seems a bit extreme to me but bottom line is, no pick up of chest this Monday, that's for sure.

 

Disappointing for sure but this action by PA Gov seems rash to me, 370 cases so far and 2 deaths, and you are gonna shut down a whole state? with a population of almost 13 million?
Lawsuits are starting to fly, Governor is back tracking allowing exemptions to his order. It seems this Governor did not think this out, many claim & are claiming in court, Gov. does not have the authority to do this mandatory shutdown.
Looks like it's gonna be a big MESS! in Pennsylvania come Monday!
And this Governor is holding my chest hostage!

 

Yepee!!! CONGRATULATIONS!
What will you use it for? More socks?

 

Good question Kyra!

Inquiring minds do want to know!

 

Well, i am going to look at it mostly, study it a lot and drive everyone i can completely insane with inquiries about it until i find out what i want to know.
It's not as easy as it sounds to gather info on centuries old furniture. First off there is a limited supply of people with knowledge, then the fact that they are usually involved with their own projects, yada yada yada.
Consider having paint forensic analysis done, x-ray fluorescence spectrometers, a scanning electron microscope with x-ray microanalysis capabilities, a Fourier transform infrared microspectrometer, a Raman microspectrometer, a liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer.
These devices allow analysis of the surface layers of an object, identifying and often dating any restorations or enhancements.
I.E. what paint is on top, what's underneath the top coating all the way down to the wood. I looked into this 7-8 years ago, it was expensive to do then, i doubt it's gotten any cheaper.
But first, I gotta get it outa quarantine! This governor is getting in the way of my project here.

 

You had/have me there.....

You lost me here.....LOL......

I like the first part best.....enjoy the hell out of it, look at it all day long and love it.

If it could speak, it would say "I love you back for bringing me to your loving home". (when it finally does reach you.)

 

Yeah, ME TOO! pretty much, I'll see how much it costs to do that kind of analysis, maybe it's cheaper to do now? Requires a lab, several million dollars of equipment plus folks that DO understand, lol.
Thing is, if this chest was owned by a Bieber, which i think it is/was, it is possible/ likely the overpainting/inpainting was done by a Bieber family member. If that's the case, i would NEVER remove it.

 

Interesting article about forensic analysis of painted objects
https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/...-scientific-research-and-analysis-laboratory/

 

Maybe, after the quarantine, you could cheaply send it to me with some old jewelry worn by the Bieber family in order to proceed to a comparative TASTE test?

 

You really are so sweet and so willing to help James!

 

In all fairness James, when one looks at the staggering numbers and rate of spread worldwide ( see Italy) and in California (where I am ) and in Washington State , Doing what is necessary now will , in the long run, make this go away faster and keep all of us safer ( in theory) . I for one will take inconvenience and a late delivery over a month of enjoying something followed by terribly sick, near death , or death . Any day above ground ( in most cases) is better than a dirt nap !