Date: Fri 02-Jul-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: SARAH

Quick Words:

Pook-history

Full Text:

Philadelphia Presents Table Bid To $1.485 Mil At Pook Sale

(with cut)

DOWNINGTON, PENN. -- A Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany pie crust tea table,

circa 1765, made its mark on Pennsylvania auction history on Saturday, June

19, when it sold for $1.485 million during a one-day sale held by Pook & Pook,

Inc.

According to Ronald Pook, the sale price, which, including a ten percent

buyers premium, makes the table one of the most valuable pieces of furniture

to ever be sold in Pennsylvania. Other auction attendees speculated, after the

table crossed the auction block, that it may very well be the most expensive

piece of American furniture sold in the United States outside of New York

City.

Ironically, this exquisite table was not featured in Pook & Pook's highly

illustrated catalogue, as it was received only two weeks before the auction

was scheduled to take place. In contrast to the typical marketing schedule for

the Pook auction house, which involves several months of promotion, the table

was immediately advertised to appropriate, interested parties at the

encouragement of the consignor.

Once the difficult decision was made to sell, the consignor did not wish to

wait for the fall sale schedule, so immediate action was needed. In spite of

the hurried promotion or perhaps because of it, the word of the table's

last-minute entry into the sale spread quickly and the interest among serious

Americana collectors and dealers was overwhelming.

The tea table, pictured in Horner's Blue Book of Philadelphia Furniture, plate

215, presented a statement of reserved elegance. The top featured a carved

cyma cured rim, which tilted and turned on a birdcage support. The warm honey

color of the well-rubbed, figured top was a contrast to the dark dry finish in

the molding of the piecrust carved rim. The tripod base had a fluted and ring

turned standard displaying a tightly suppressed ball with a central carved

ring over a floret and scroll carved ring, all supported by three legs, each

surmounted by large leaf and C-scroll carvings, over a split vein acanthus

leaf-carved knee terminating in a bell flower with a drop, and resting on

finely carved ball and claw feet with full talons. The base also featured a

dry, undisturbed finish, similar to the pie crust rim -- the crowning glory to

a magnificent table.

Beyond the simple beauty of the table, the provenance of the table added

additional allure, as the table had remained in the same family since its

construction. The original owner of the table was listed in Horner's Blue Book

of Philadelphia Furniture as Nicholas Waln. The table descended in the Waln

and Maule families to the present owner.

Pook & Pook is in Downingtown, Penn., telephone 610/269-4040.