Questions about maker of federal card table

[jacon4]

Donald, hmmmmm, maybe, do you have any high quality detail pics as well as detailed  description? Although one can never authenticate old furniture for sure with pics, details alone, they help a great deal if they are high quality. If so, email me at
jacon4@hotmail.com and i'll check around, it would not hurt to have them on hand even if i cant as that way they would be available to others as well.

[greenacres]

This is quite an education. Thank you.

[jacon4]

Hey Green, Yeah! we talkin old furniture here! Did a quick google and here is a book from 1922 that one can read online, one of the great things about the net. click read online

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL6649463M/Furniture_masterpieces_of_Duncan_Phyfe

One of the things that jumps out at me is the legs, Phyfe was very fond of fluted turned legs in the Sheraton style for his tables.

[dr612]

jacon4, I will email you the powerpoint file of photos I mentioned earlier.  By the way, if you have access to the Cornelius book you are referencing, check out Plates II and XI.  While they are chair length legs, the similarities of overall shape ending with the small lion's paw foot are striking.  Even down to the slight change of angle as the curved leg goes into the brass foot.  Interesting.

[mart]

Please let us know what the experts decide on your table !!

[dr612]

I certainly will.  I love the website, by the way.  Wish I had discovered it earlier. 

[mart]

We hope you will continue here !! Even if you are not researching one of your pieces,,you learn something new everyday around here !! Glad to have you aboard !!

[talesofthesevenseas]

Just wanted to say that both are stunning!!

[cogar]

Thanks again.  I wish I was in the Albany area, as I could probably get someone up from NYC to look at it.  I am down on the Gulf Coast, well out of the range of most federal period experts and museums that have this period furniture.  Any suggestions as to who to contact? 

dr612, ...... here you go, ........ and am pretty sure you will get a reply from Leigh. I knew them (twins) and their parents when I lived in upstate NY, ..... long before they became famous antiquers.

Cheers, ........... Sam Cogar


LEIGH KENO
Leigh Keno American Antiques
127 East 69th Street
New York, NY 10021
(212) 734-2381 (phone)
(212) 734-0707 (fax)
leigh@leighkeno.com

Mr. Keno opened his own gallery in 1986, after working as Director of the American Furniture department at William Doyle Galleries and as Vice President of the Appraisal department and as a specialist in the American Furniture department at Christie's. He just finished writing a book with his brother, Leslie, and Joan Barzilay Freund called Hidden Treasures: Searching for Masterpieces of American Furniture. It was published by Warner Books in the fall of 2000.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006040609604

   

[jacon4]

Agrees with Cogar, finding dealers that specialize in your field of interest is a great way to get info, leads when one is researching old furniture or probably anything else for that matter. First off they handle the objects daily, are in biz to buy and sell those objects and so likely to interact with anyone that might be a future sale or purchase opportunity.

[jacon4]

Interesting article in Chipstone on Phyfe & Ernest Hagan, a late 19th century NYC german cabinetmaker who restored, repaired & made copies and documented much about what is known about Phyfe

http://www.chipstone.org/publications/1996AF/Waters/1996WatersIndex.html

[dr612]

Thanks to all again.  You have provided several leads which I will follow up.  I will keep you posted. 

[greenacres]

Thanks for the site Jacon4. Can't wait to read.

[greenacres]

OMG, breath taking! The furniture is beautiful. I can see though the legs if his furniture were mostly straight, except for the dinning room tables of the lyre designed. The sofas are beautiful. It's art.

[jacon4]

There is a renewed interest lately on Phyfe and his work, check out this video for the kind of construction details that sometimes reveal who could have made the object, apparently Duncan card table tops had "issues" in the way they were constructed.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/44703/duncan-phyfe-master-cabinetmaker/?&lookup=auto&V18=&V19=&V20=&V21=&V22=&V23=&V24=&V25=&V26=&V53=&V54=&Taun_Per_Flag=true&utm_source=email&utm_medium=eletterutm_term=audio-slideshow&utm_content=20120204-dovetail-techniques&utm_campaign=fine-woodworking-eletter

So the question is, does this card table of dr612 have that cracked veneer top and glued up substrate that are peculiar to NYC cabinetmakers. It's stuff like this that requires in person examination of period pieces, pics are great but theres really no way to be sure until looked at by someone who is familiar with the object.