Antique Pembroke Table

[yelocrab]

Hi,
I am new to the forum, but I plan to be a frequent poster over the long term. I happen to be the current owner of the table seen at the below link. It is a pembroke table of unknown age and origin. I know that it is fairly old, and has been around since my great grandparents owned it. I only have a few pictures, but hopefully someone can give me some direction. At some point, my father was led to believe that this table may be of extraordinary value. I have yet to find any evidence of that.
Thanks


http://www.flickr.com/photos/61446574@N05/

[hosman321]

Welcome Yelo! From the pictures it looks to be one from the early 1900s but it's hard to tell. We would need to see pictures of the underneath (how it's constructed) and a picture of the side of the drawer (pulled out) to show drawer construction. Nice little table!

[yelocrab]

Added a few photos of the drawer and a hinge. Will get higher resolution when I can. Thanks.

[yelocrab]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61446574@N05/sets/72157626320833607/

[hosman321]

What do you all think? It looks like hand cut dovetails and the boards are all different widths. A good resolution picture of screws would help, too. Screws tell a lot about age. That is, if they are original. Looking forward to learning with you, Yelo.

[Oceans64]

I try to date furniture by style and I'm not very good at it so take this for what it's worth.  My feeling that it is in Hepplewhite's Style but a later production piece.  Originally he was popular (tho dead) in the late 1700's through about 1820.  By 1880, his style had a resurgence.  There is a good write up here: http://antiques.about.com/od/furniture/a/Hepplewhite120109.htm

Your piece is lacking the more decorative features of his early work such as inlays etc so I think it is later.  Probably 1880-1900ish but my feeling is probably earlier vrs later. Here is what may be an early 1800's example: http://cgi.ebay.com/SWC-Federal-Inlaid-Pembroke-Table-c-1790-/380171962063?pt=Antiques_Furniture&hash=item588403c6cf

Value is tough since these seem to be readily available as far as an antique anything goes.  See eBay as verification of that but personally I'd check with my local auction house or Craigslist to get a good feel.  Lot's of craziness in pricing on eBay.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge of furniture can help...

[yelocrab]

Thanks for the input. It's hard to get a bead on what makes them valuable or rare, as i have seen some in a similar style and condition for $10K and higher. I will post some better pics of the joints and hardware. Fairly primitive from the looks of it. If it were to have any maker identification, where would that generally be?

[Oceans64]

I have a curly maple Pembroke Table and posted about it here: http://www.antique-shop.com/forums/index.php?topic=7600.15  It has pencil marks under the drawers and the wood is imprinted underneath the front rail.  Even with that I am at a dead end on this table.  I had a dealer look at it and he thought 1850 by feel of the wood, style, etc but no real concrete proof.  You can see pics on the link above.

I have seen these tables for 10-12K as well but I can assure you they do not sell for that price unless the have a provenance, you can prove it was built by a master furniture builder (i.e. Hepplewhite signature on bottom) or some other anomaly.  At my major metropolitan antique store there has been a table almost like mine priced at $600 (plus 20% off most days).  It has been there at least 9 months with no takers.  I could probably sell mine to a dealer for $200ish or roll the dice at auction and probably get the same amount...  From my research, the curly maple is more desirable than the dark woods but probably b/c you see less of them.

I don't watch my local Craigslist for these so I don't know my local pricing or if the sell.  Wish I could be more help.