Historical Piece of Furniture Discovered
There are plenty of stories about valuable pieces of art being picked up for a song at a tag sale and then auctioned for millions. The success of PBS’ Antiques Roadshow is based on this hope of finding gold in Grandma’s attic. But it isn’t often that a masterpiece lies unrecognized in a museum. However, when two Fine Woodworking authors, Mickey Callahan (“Build a Classic Corner Chair“, issue 215) Will Neptune (“Anatomy of a Chest of Drawers“, issue 163) touring the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, CT with fellow member of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers Ed Quinlan, they made just such a discovery.
The house was built in 1901 by Theodate Pope for her parents Alfred and Ada Pope. They brought some of the furniture from their house in Cleveland, OH but more was acquired from dealers in New York and elsewhere. While the house has some nice pieces of furniture, they are mostly reproductions so almost certainly the Pope’s (and the seller) were unaware that they were buying a genuine Seymour piece.
Perhaps one of the reasons that the piece lay unrecognized was that it was tucked away in a second floor child’s bedroom. However, when Will and Mickey walked in and set eyes on the piece they both looked at each other and said “Seymour!” Their assertion was confirmed by Robert Mussey, author of the book “The Furniture Masterworks of John and Thomas Seymour”.
The dressing table is made from mahogany with the drawer fronts veneered with crotch mahogany surrounded by black and white stringing and crossbanding. The lower part of the legs are reeded while the upper section feature stop fluting, similar to Jeff Headley’s article on quarter columns in issue 211. Lunette banding (like Mark Arnold shows how to make) wraps around the lower front rail, legs and sides.
While not the most detailed piece to come out of the Seymour shop it is still a very attractive piece in great condition and unlike a large museum you can actually get up close and really study the detail. The house also contains several paintings by Monet and Degas so you can spend a pleasant few hours touring the museum.
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