Furniture

Chippendale Side Chair, ca. 1770

Appraisal: Chippendale Side Chair, ca. 1770

Transcript

APPRAISER: You didn't own this chair at 8:00 this morning. Now you do-- what happened?

GUEST: I was out driving around this morning, getting myself a cup of coffee, and I saw a garage sale. So I saw the chair. I thought it was old.

APPRAISER: What'd you see about it that said it was old?

GUEST: Well, I just felt the top here.

APPRAISER: Okay, this stuff, okay.

GUEST: It just felt nice, it felt old.

APPRAISER: Okay, all right-- you looked under here. I'm looking at the back here, I'm looking at this... I'm looking at these through- tenons coming through the back. Old color, right?

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: So how much was it?

GUEST: Two dollars.

APPRAISER: It was two dollars.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: Two dollars, though?

GUEST: Two bucks.

APPRAISER: (laughs) Did you ask for a better price or anything?

GUEST: No, no, I didn't.

APPRAISER: Two dollars, this morning.

GUEST: This morning.

APPRAISER: Right here in town.

GUEST: Yup.

APPRAISER: This is incredible. This is what keeps all of us out there looking, to have stuff like this happen.

GUEST: Definitely.

APPRAISER: This is a circa 1770 Chippendale Philadelphia chair. Through-tenons are typical Philadelphia. Through-tenons, these seat rails are coming through the back leg. The original finish, this 200 years of grunge. This pure splat is a wonderful splat. I'm going to look inside here. Can I rip this open?

GUEST: Yeah, go ahead.

APPRAISER: Are you sure?

GUEST: Yeah, go ahead.

APPRAISER: You only paid two dollars, so I'm going to... This is just the scrim, so... And what you've got here-- look at this. (straining) That's the original... That's the original yellow pine seat frame, 1770, same date as the chair, marked number two from the set.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Look at this. This is chair number one from the set. You see that little mark?

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: So you got chair number one, seat frame number two, on a Philadelphia chair with an old finish for two dollars-- you know what it's worth?

GUEST: I have no idea.

APPRAISER: About, easily, $1,500, easily.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Easily $1,500. Another little touch, there's a name on the back. Did you see this?

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: This has an incised name. " Foulke?"

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: That's one of the oldest Philadelphia names. This is probably an early owner that scratched their name on the back of the chair.