Valuing an attractive bedroom set
Q. We would like to sell this bedroom set, but have no idea of the value. We have had it for 41 years. We refinished it because the surface had turned black. It is solid mahogany and I am thinking it is from the 1930s. The bed is full-sized, and the highboy has some damage on the upper side. Any information would be appreciated.
A. This is certainly an attractive bedroom set, but we are primarily going to discuss the piece referred to in the letter as a “highboy.”
This piece is kind-of-sort-of in a style that might be called Chippendale in the United States or George III in England, but it really is a blending of 18th-century styles that is very typical of designs used in the 1920s and '30s by American furniture manufacturers (a circa-'30s date is really a good guess).
The late 17th and early 18th centuries saw the development of several kinds of chests that were constructed in two sections. One of these chests was a “chest on frame,” which had a chest of drawers that rested on top of a stand. Sometimes, the stand had a long drawer, and over time, the one drawer tuned into a configuration that had three drawers.
As time progressed, the frame became a chest itself. These were known as “chests on chests.” In the United States, however, the term “highboy” came to be used for this piece of furniture.
The term was colloquial and mainly used by antiques dealers and collectors. It came to denote a tall case piece made in two sections with both units having multiple drawers and the lower piece was supported on legs.
In the instance of the highboy in today's question, the legs have a shallow “S” curve and are called cabriole legs and they terminate in pad feet — which are often associated with the Queen Anne period of English and American furniture. The carved fan in the lower section is typical of mid- to late-18th-century American pieces and the top is called a broken arch or swan-neck pediment. There appears to be a typical flame finial located between the two “S” curves of the pediment.
The letter writer should very carefully check the drawers of this piece for a maker's mark or label. This would help identify the maker (which collectors tend to like) and perhaps date the piece more precisely.
The other pieces in the grouping — the modified cannonball bed with its baseball-sized “cannonballs,” and the dressing table with a faux-Chippendale-style mirror and bench (having more to do with the designs of Thomas Sheraton than Thomas Chippendale) — are of less interest than the highboy. The highboy is very attractive, but the dressing table looks a little stodgy while the bed is a bit small for the taste of many who might be interested in purchasing this set.
These pieces are not antiques, and are considered to be “used furniture” by many people in the trade. If the pieces are solid mahogany, the highboy alone should sell in the $500-$650 range, with an insurance-replacement value in the $1,000-$1,200 range.
The bed and dressing table together would probably fetch a bit less, in the $400-$500 range, with an insurance value of $800-$1,000 for the two. For insurance purposes, the set should be valued at around $2,000 to $2,250.
Ÿ Contact Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson at Treasures in Your Attic, P.O. Box 18350, Knoxville, TN 37928.