Shenandoah Valley/ Johannes Spitler

[jacon4]

OK, there has been a new chest discovered in Va that was decorated by J. Spitler. The feet are missing but hey, thats a minor matter for a chest that's over 200 years old. There was a large german population that migrated into the shenandoah valley from Pa down the great wagon road during the 18th century. It is not known if Spitler built these chests as well as decorated them but they have an abstract, almost modern quality to the paint decoration.

[jacon4]

here are a couple more pics of Spitler's work that are at williamsburg

[bigwull]

As much as i,m not a lover of early American..woodwork. ..i,ll have to agree with you...on the decoration on this chest...it looks like it could have been painted in the 1960,s...the centre piece below the escutcheon...looks ..sexual..in its design...

[bigwull]

After seeing these two...I may have to have a re-think...on early American...decor of these chests...

[jacon4]

One of the really cool things about EA furniture is, there were no rules, regulations, guilds, unions, etc to hinder the design or construction of furniture. They were completely free to experiment with all manner of it's construction & decoration. Naturally, there were some duds with this kind of freedom however, there were sometimes spectacular forms created as well. For instance, block front chests had been around Boston for decades when the Goddard/Townsend clan of cabinetmakers in Newport R.I. decided to carve shells on top of the block fronts, the result was a masterpiece in american furniture.

[bigwull]

This was so true of the Victorian era...this was such a straight laced time that...it must have been suffocating for..designers,artists,...who may have had a vision...but society would not allow them to fulfill...their visions....

[Rauville]

I think the Spitler decorated hanging cupboard with the deer still holds the auction record for American painted furniture...at $962,500!!!

[jacon4]

For American southern paint decorated furniture yes, it holds the record. For all America, no, this 1729 W&M paint decorated chest by Robert Crosman holds the over all record at 2.9 million in 2006, trying to get a good pic of it
http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=776

For those not familar with Crosman, he's the guy who built the now rather famous "Taunton Chest", he was a drum maker from Taunton Mass. In 2006, his most celebrated chest from the Blair collection sold for 2.9 million, a world record for an american painted piece as well as the record for an american william & mary piece. The Blair chest is considered the "rosetta stone" of Crosman's chests because its the only chest thats signed and ties the 22 or so other Crosman chests to it. Heres an article with a good pic of the Blair chest along with a few other Crosman pieces.
 http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/media/images/00701-00800/00776/Ward_Taunton.pdf

[bigwull]

More money than sense....

[jacon4]

More money than sense....

Well, that kinda depends..... The latest Crosman chest to go on the market was in 2011, it had a 2-4k sales estimate which i knew was a tease but since there had been quite alot of restoration plus it was likely done when crosman was a teen or very young because the decoration is very whimsical & child like, i figured it at 4-6k and went after it HARD! I WANTED THIS CROSMAN CHEST!

Hammer price? 17k, I was crushed, as usual! The dealer who was winning bidder sold it to a collector for 25k on the phone before it ever left the sales floor..........

[bigwull]

That,s a bit more realistic..but ..its still a lot..for what is effectivly a pine box that i could make....but as my names Wullie and not Crosman...it would only be worth material value....

[jacon4]

Yeah, well, considering there are only 22 known pieces of Crosman & only 1 signed and dated and it's early 18th century american and still retains it's paint, GET OUT YOUR POCKET BOOK! kinda thang.