GUEST: This furniture is a Frank Lloyd Wright Henredon heritage collection that my parents bought back in the '50s, and...
APPRAISER: Do you remember what year in the '50s they bought it?
GUEST: I think it was around 1955.
APPRAISER: Intere, I think... I agree with that. I think you're absolutely right.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Matter of fact, I'll bet you it was slightly after August 1955.
GUEST: Well, they were married in September, so it would have to be after that.
APPRAISER: The reason I know that is 'cause under this big piece of slate, which I'm not going to attempt to take off...
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: ...there is the date 8-55.
GUEST: Oh, okay!
APPRAISER: So, August 1955, which is just perfect.
GUEST: Good.
APPRAISER: This was a short-lived range of furniture. And mainly, it was produced in 1955. And Frank Lloyd Wright did indeed design this.
GUEST: Mm.
APPRAISER: This is probably one of the most well-known, uh, very famous, uh, designed furniture lines of the '50s. So Frank Lloyd Wright was
probably the preeminent American architect of the, of the 20th century. He started off his career more in an Arts and Crafts style.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And as, as time moved along, Frank Lloyd Wright was great, because he could kind of change with the times. His architecture, his furniture. By 1955, he's an older man. He would embrace Modernism.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And I think, to a large extent, this line of furniture definitely embraces Modernism.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: I wonder what your parents saw in it that they liked. (laughs) 'Cause it was sort of a, it was sort of an odd, avant-garde, kind of interesting thing-- you had to live kind of dangerously to buy this furniture in 1955. (laughing)
GUEST: When they bought it...
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm?
GUEST: ...the company that they bought it from kept calling them, saying, "We need it back." And my dad was, like, "Well, we're, we want to keep it." And they called about three or four t, different times, and finally, he said, "We're not selling it back to you or returning it, and so please, stop calling."
APPRAISER: Yeah. (laughs)
GUEST: So they kept it.
APPRAISER: It was produced on a more kind of commercial level than most of Frank Lloyd Wright's furniture.
GUEST: Mm.
APPRAISER: When we think of Frank Lloyd Wright furniture, we think of, of furniture that was made specifically for a house or, or a building that, that he had designed. And, and that, that material tends to be worth a little bit more money.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: But this, again, is, is fun and it's interesting. It certainly, I think, reflects the, the, uh, architectural feelings of the mid-1950s.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: The other interesting thing about this furniture is that it definitely has sort of a loved look to it. Mid-Century Modern furniture, which, this is definitely r, right there, mid-century...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...can be, I think, loved on and repaired and, and kind of brought back to life; if we refinish this, I don't think it would do anything but improve the value of it. And did you tell me that, that underneath that, that, uh, wonderful blue, that the original fabric is there?
GUEST: (laughs): Isn't that lovely? (laughs) Yes, the original green fabric is under there. Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Great-- so most of this furniture can be told that, that, that it's, uh, Frank Lloyd Wright for Henredon by, by these great kind of motifs on the outside.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: A, a classic Frank Lloyd Wright design that he incorporated on all of the Henredon furniture.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: So you could-- when you walked up with it this morning, I said, "Frank Lloyd Wright, Henredon Furniture." (laughs) "There it is, right there."
GUEST: There it is.
APPRAISER: Do you have any idea about the value?
GUEST: When I inherited it a couple of years ago, I kind of got online and looked.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm?
GUEST: And I saw, uh, just the coffee table was estimated around $8,000.
APPRAISER: This is certainly the most valuable of the three pieces.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And it's also in really good condition, as well. It is. I think the three pieces, at auction, would bring somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000.
GUEST: Oh, that's great, that's great. Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER: Yeah. It's, it's great furniture, and again, I, I think it really helps, tells the tale of, of, uh, mid-century design.
GUEST: Mm-hmm. Well, we, all three kids, hit our chin on that slate table. (laughs) So it's not going anywhere.
