Featured Need Help on a SideBoard Any Furniture Experts ?

You guys are my experts ! I would be lost without you. I have been doing my comparing to marked pieces as best I can. It's hard to find close ups on the internet. Unfortunately where I live the so called experts are a joke. I emailed the people at Bradfords because they have sold quite a few pieces of Horner with the original paper tag still in place. So hopefully they will get back to me. I figured it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

Exactly, doesn't hurt to ask. Another you might ask is Hal Hunt, only 1 sale a year but museum quality victorian furniture & only the best of the best.
https://www.halhunt.com/

 

Thank you I will try that also

 

Yeah, nothing beat a try but failure! Louisiana boy who operates out of Birmingham now i think, family operation. He gives the big names in New Orleans a run for their money on selling victorian furniture though, no doubt about that.

 

I emailed him and sent some pictures and told him I wasn't looking for an appraisal just an honest opinion. So lets see if he gets back to me.

 

Let us know what if anything happens.

 

Good point, secondary wood could be oak, it could also be quarter sawn chestnut. I know Herter Bros. used Cherry as a secondary wood on his best pieces so hardwood secondary on american furniture is rare but it did happen in this era.
In looking at drawer pics, the dovetails look american, generally speaking english dovetails are much narrower.

Absolutely, and in this servers case i would, it would make a big difference price wise. Another thing in this era, many furniture makers imported other furniture and simply put their label on it at the retail level, i would bet Horner did this as well. So even a piece that has a Horner label may not be Horner.
For all these reasons & more, it just makes sense to have piece checked out.

 

Okay here's an update. I emailed a few places called a few places. What I am finding out is I know as much about or more on this stuff as most of these so called experts out there. Crazy. Go figure.

But I finally did reach Brad I broke down and called him as much as I hated to. But turns out he's a super nice guy. And he is 95% on the sideboard ( Which makes me feel pretty good about my 98% ) he needs a few more photo's but it will be a couple of days before I can get them because I have it stored in my friends warehouse in another town about 45 min. away and I hate driving.
Now on the table he said Grand Rapids an the chairs he said are american but still up in the air, because again better photo's are needed to pinpoint.

OH and in my days upon days upon days of research I found this. VERY INTERESTING it seems Horner was very diverse in there designs Who Knew.

https://issuu.com/johnwerry/docs/hornercatalog

 

LOL, Yeah, i am not surprised. Even the "big guns" in NYC like Christie's/ Sotheby's your "expert" is likely to be a 20 something kid just out of school with an Art History major. Nothing against the kidz but hey, they are just starting out and are CHEAP! which is why they got hired in the first place.

That's not bad, much better than a flat out NO!

 

Yeah after this ordeal I think I have decided I'm going to become an Appraiser. LOL

 

I know the feeling. But at least now you're getting somewhere. You will keep us posted, won't you?

 

Yes I will !!!

Oh forgot to add this link LOL I love research. Now I am not saying the person selling it did it. But come on really. Check out the label LOL. 130 old paper tag in mint condition LOL.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/R-J-HORNER...435829?hash=item3d83c07f35:g:LgMAAOSwuWha33D5

 

I have a jar of the the old tacks I have been saving to reupholster an old chair, does anyone have some yelloish colored printer paper I can borrow. i guess I could just spring the $5 and order off amazon.

 

Soak it in tea for a while.

 

All that is rather pointless i would say, real furniture collectors that specialize in a particular period mostly know what they are looking at & wouldn't be fooled at all.

 

One would think so. That is why the tag is so funny.

 

Also forgot to add this link earlier for furniture people.

https://issuu.com/johnwerry/docs/james_w_cooper

 

John Werry used to have a victorian furniture forum years ago, guesses the style fell out of his favor as it is no more.

 

I know I am dying to get my hands on a copy of the 1887 Ornamental Woods Company Catalog. But according to his website and the internet there is only 2 known copies. One is at the MET and the other is owned by Rhett Butler of E.R. Butler an Company.