Texas Fall-Front Desk, ca. 1860
Watch
GUEST:
I found this desk, and it had been abandoned in a barn that my grandparents were buying in East Texas. The people that were selling them the farm said that a relative of theirs had cut down the tree and made this desk, and they weren't taking it with them. They were just leaving it. When I found it, the rats had nested in the drawers. It was covered with thick black paint. It was destined for the burn pile. I was a very young woman. I asked my grandmother if I could have it and she said yes, so I took it and stripped it, and, and here is the desk you have.
APPRAISER:
This is not the prettiest girl at the dance.
GUEST:
No, it's not, it's very humble.
APPRAISER:
But it's fabulous as an example of vernacular furniture. It most definitely appears to be a Texas desk...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...from Southeast Texas. That's the land-- still is-- of, uh, harvesting yellow pine.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
And that is the principal wood which is used...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...in the construction of this piece. You can see that the maker went to considerable efforts to incorporate the wonderful wild graining.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And that's achieved by doing bias, or diagonal, sawing of the, of the wood to achieve this effect. The style of the piece is really sort of an extension of late classical design in the 19th century. There was a style in the 1840s called pillar and scroll design.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
And this is a local interpretation of that particular style. It's had a little bit of damage up here on the top.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
That backboard probably had little scrolls...
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
...originally that have broken off.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
But that's not a major problem. The hardware on the piece-- these wonderful porcelain white knobs...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...there's no indication that there was anything else on the piece, and so those may be original to it.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
These scrolls are very interesting in that they function not only as decoration...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...but turn this into a support for a desk. And, with your help...
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
...if we can just pull this out. We'll hold that in, extend the legs.
GUEST:
There.
APPRAISER:
There we go. For a pretty simple piece of furniture...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...that's a pretty elaborate kind of mechanism.
GUEST:
It is, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And if we look inside, we have these two banks of drawers and we have this wonderful wavy grain...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...which is typical of yellow pine. A piece like this you have to put in the context of where it was made...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...and when it was made, and Texas in the 1850s, '60...
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
...was a pretty rough, wild place, and there were not a lot of imported pieces of furniture.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
They made do. A piece like this has probably more historical...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...value and interest, and I would think that, in terms of value, a group of Texas collectors, or Texiana collectors...
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
...uh, bidding against each other at an auction might push this up to $2,000 to $2,500.
GUEST:
Wow! My humble desk! That's awesome. (laughs)
APPRAISER:
And so you're not going to throw it out now.
GUEST:
Not going to throw it out. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna put it on the burn pile now. (laughs)
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
