GUEST: My parents bought it in 1975. They remodeled after the tornado in 1974, and so they needed a piece. And apparently Daddy found it at an antique shop down in Lebanon, Kentucky. I understand that he paid $500 for it. A friend of my parents, she thought that was way too high for the piece, so...
APPRAISER: Okay, so were they...
GUEST: That's all I know.
APPRAISER: Were they collectors?
GUEST: My aunt had been an antique dealer, and they just liked different pieces. But Daddy found it when he was down in the area on business.
APPRAISER: What did the antique shop tell them when they bought it?
GUEST: All I know is, it says it's from the 1800s. It was made by an old Quaker cabinetmaker named George Wiley. I have not been able to find any information out about it.
APPRAISER: Hmm.
GUEST: But it is the sideboard that has that middle drawer, opens up, and it's a desk, like a butler's desk, so...
APPRAISER: Right, they sometimes did put a butler's desk in these, and this one does have that. And you, you just pull it open and drop the front down. And instead of a sideboard, you have a wonderful writing desk, where...
GUEST: Yes, I love that about it.
APPRAISER: It's got some really exciting figured mahogany veneers. You notice how it's, it's in a very sort of flat plane. How did they date the piece? Did they say?
GUEST: They said 1800s. It didn't say if it was early or late.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: My suspicion, it's a little later, because... I'm hoping maybe you can tell me about this carve.
APPRAISER: Okay. Well, you're exactly right. It is a little bit later. And if it was 1800, it would probably have inlay in it. And as we get to the 1820s, the sort of classicism, the taste for these plainer veneers without inlay, is coming into focus a little bit. The peaked pediment on this kind of recalls the Parthenon, and that sort of, like, urge for that pure classicism is what we start to see in this period. 20 years earlier, a sideboard like this would have probably had long, skinny legs.
GUEST: Ah.
APPRAISER: So, as you get into this, 1820s or so, I would say this is probably about 1825.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: One of the, the tricks with that is that, historically, a lot of the, the academic research that's gone into these has focused on a slightly earlier period, and it makes identifying the exact origin of these a little bit trickier. And the piece does give me some clues in the, the kind of woods the cabinetmaker used. It has poplar and white pine secondary. I think it probably is a Kentucky sideboard.
GUEST: Oh, cool.
APPRAISER: And especially given its retrieval history and where it came from. But they were making very similar sideboards in Virginia, and in Tennessee, and in a lot of sort of surrounding areas. So we're, we're in a little bit of a, a gray area here, as far as it doesn't have those inlays that we can sort of ascribe to certain areas and things like that. And I'm not familiar with George Wiley, but I'm very interested in the Quaker element there. I would love to know more about what the dealer who sold this knew about that. I will say that, like, in the 18th century, Quaker cabinetmakers, they wanted to use solid woods that were very high-quality, but the idea of putting a veneer on was sort of a little disingenuous. But it could have been a Quaker, but I wonder if that wasn't just sort of a... just an embellishment. It's carefully handmade. It is top-quality woods. I think the Kentucky attribution will hold up, but it needs a little more sussing out. So if you walked into an antique shop today, would you buy this sideboard?
GUEST: I don't know. I like the size and the height of it. I tend to go with the longer legs.
APPRAISER: Yeah.
GUEST: But I do like it.
APPRAISER: Yeah.
GUEST: It's a family piece, you know.
APPRAISER: Well, and I think that's... That's exactly what the rest of the market thinks, too.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: And I think, from a collector's perspective, they'd love to see those tall, slender legs...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...on this. And as we get into this later period...
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: ...and the heavier forms...
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: ...we do tend to see demand sort of drop off.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: What do you think it's worth?
GUEST: I'm guessing... $3,000.
APPRAISER: I could definitely see it priced that way in a shop. I think, on the auction block...
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: ...it would, it would bring less.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: It's probably more like a $1,000 to $2,000 piece.
GUEST: Yeah, uh-huh.
APPRAISER: But think about the value that you get for that.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: I think time will bear it out. It does make good tornado shelter.
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: You can always, like, get in the, in the cabinet. This is a very... as we carried this out here, it's a very solid piece of furniture.
