Featured Game Table

Well, here is what Wheeler says about this piece but to me, the legs scream Queen Anne.

"This rare lowboy is a transitional piece, showing the characteristics of the William and Mary period as well as the Queen Anne period. The slate inlay and the drawer headings are reminiscent of early William and Mary dressing tables, while the general design is typically Queen Anne.



The original piece was painted, the case portion and legs in red and the top, acorn drops, and drawer outlines in black.



Our lowboy is constructed in the same fashion as the original. The top is secured by four wooden pegs, and the internal construction exhibits the earlier, wider dovetails.

We offer this lowboy in old paint or in natural stain. The color of the slate is black."

 

Here is a period american table with slate insert in the william & mary style, 1700-1730 Boston

 

OK, as luck would have it, we have a new member in Antiquers intro forum from Switzerland who confirms this table is indeed Swiss built. Deirdre from Pook sent a condition report yesterday:
Origin unknown. One side rail replaced. Otherwise in good condition. No other apparent damages or repairs.
Also yesterday a dealer from Connecticut called with concern about storm headed here & mentioned that they were going to this sale & was there anything i was interested in?
Suddenly, this table is IN PLAY! although i would have to get rid of something to make room for it.

 

don't tell me you will buy a non-US item ?
slate starts to make sense when it's for a money changer; level surface for the scales.
what's the starting price ?

 

500 usd

 

sounds okay up till 750 $

 

Yeah, I can already tell this table is going to go for 3-4 times or more what it is worth, 3 bids so far & sale is still a day away. It has some serious buzz factor going for it with that top that you don't see here in the States much.

 

when someone has a hunting lodge or similar where it would fit in stylewise then yes. around here 1000 maximum if at all.

 

Hunting lodge? uhhhhhhh, nooooo. I don't think you understand, this Pook sale has some very nice early Americana in it as well with many pieces once owned by Lillian Blankley Cogan who died in 1992, a rather famous dealer/collector of early americana. Translation: all the heavy hitters of early americana will be at this sale, trust me. Also, there will be many "decorator type" ladies with clients already on retainer who i suspect will go after this Swiss table and, they don't care how much it cost, they are not buying it in the end anyway. Translation: I will not be surprised to see this small swiss table go in the 3-5k range.

 

always good when customers have more dough than noodles.

 

Alrighty then, table sold for $7,500.
It never pays to mess around with decorator type ladies!

 

Another interesting discussion.

Did it sell as 18th C American?

 

I might think about exporting a long container of these to the states. readily available for 400 - 500 a piece.

 

No, it didn't, Pook had origin unknown, late 18th C. There were quite a few early Americana dealers at this sale, they didn't touch this table, i didn't figure they would.
The highlight of day one in this sale was a "sunflower" chest, shop of Peter Blinn, Wethersfield Conn, C. 1700-1710.
Single owner sale, 2 days, yesterday & today, lived in New Mexico but lady had quite the taste for early american stuff purchased from some famous dealers 30-40 years ago.
Problem for me was, this estate sale had lots of high quality european stuff as well, like this small Swiss table, which drew in decorators & snuffed out my chances. DOWN WITH DECORATORS! lol. Just kidding, i actually like some of them but they are shopping for a "look" and some have deep pockets.

 

yesterday I started to read the classification list for furniture in Warman's Antiques & Collectibles 2018 to get an idea what people are talking around here.
also interesting that there seem to be many bargains to be made with KPM porcelain in the US. Meissen and Rosenthal are down here as well (50 - 80 %).

 

another use for the slate. marking the points with a chalk when playing cards. yokels stay yokels.
https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/jasstisch-tisch-schiefertisch-stuhl-1001256050/

 

UPDATE!
I have been looking into this slate top table thingy off & on since i got TORCHED on the table that started this thread.
Early american slate top tables are rare, about the only place you ever see them is in a museum, they hardly ever come to market.
It turns out, these early American tables had tops that were, you guessed it, imported from Switzerland in the first quarter of the 18th century.
This is why the tops are a different species ( usually spruce) than the table base, we imported the top and built the base here, ODD!
It is thought that these were used as dressing tables.

Click Pic/s to enlarge

Boston Museum of Art C 1700-1720



MET, same period, imported swiss top, american walnut base



Black & White pic of MET table top

 

Hi James,
I could spend hours in the American wing of the MET and have in the past. Perhaps when I die I can become a ghost and live in the American wing.
greg

 

LOL, not a bad place to be!

I am puzzled by these slate tops, why? I mean it's not as though we didn't have slate or slaters to work it.
Was it the inlay with Swiss heraldic images that most of these tops have?
Just a Swiss immigrant, homesick who wanted something from from the old country?
It was just fashionable in furniture at the time & considered exotic?

I mean, it is acknowledged that many colonists "Americanized" the designs & construction details they learned in their home countries once they arrived here, it's one of the things i love about early american furniture.
It has a quirky quality to it that is unique.
But, importing Swiss table tops in 1710!? that's a bit beyond quirky, isn't it?

 

We certainly had raw slate in the colonies, but mining and processing and shipping was not being done until much later. Apparently slate roofing was also being imported from europe until the late 1700's. There were factories in europe producing this stuff (for example slate table tops) in quantity, and ships going back and forth for trade, so a lot of finished products or parts were sent from europe. European brass furniture fittings is another good example.

"Although slate quarrying was not common in the United States until the latter half of the nineteenth century, slate roofing is known to have been used prior to the American Revolution. Archeological excavations at Jamestown, Virginia, have unearthed roofing slate in strata dating from 1625-1650 and 1640-1670. Slate roofs were introduced in Boston as early as 1654 and Philadelphia in 1699. Seventeenth century building ordinances of New York and Boston recommended the use of slate or tile roofs to ensure fireproof construction.

In the early colonial period, nearly all roofing slate was imported from North Wales. It was not until 1785 that the first commercial slate quarry was opened in the United States, by William Docher in Peach Bottom Township, Pennsylvania. Production was limited to that which could be consumed in local markets until the middle of the nineteenth century."
https://www.nps.gov/articles/should-i-replace-my-slate-roof-with-a-synthetic.htm