Goodwin Commode & Tuchfarber Lithograph
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GUEST:
This has been in my family as long as I can remember. It belonged to my mother's father's side of the family.
APPRAISER:
The piece is marked in the drawer, and also more clearly on the back, "Goodwin & Co."
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Goodwin & Company was a very enduring company and furniture dealer in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1850 and ran until about 1879.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
James Porter Goodwin was the founder of it. He was an Irish immigrant, and he was very prolific. At his peak he was selling more than a million dollars worth of furniture on an annual basis, and employed up to 350 people, so a very extensive operation for such a rural company. It's part of a bedroom suite. This part would be a commode, so they would have...
GUEST:
Commode, okay.
APPRAISER:
...a pitcher and wash bowl on top of it.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
An auction value for the commode would be $600 to $800.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
But I think what was most fascinating was when we took the piece apart looking for maker's marks. And if we could take this top off real quick, we found this metal piece that was nailed down, which we undid, and I've got the wound to prove it.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
To discover this advertisement.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Made by Tuchfarber in Cincinnati. It's a shoe advertisement. It's lithograph on tin.
GUEST:
Lithograph.
APPRAISER:
And they were one of the earliest, and today the most desirable, lithographers of advertising in the marketplace. Tin lithography was one of the earliest forms of lithography, and it would date roughly about 1880 to 1890. It does have some condition problems. We're losing some of the paint. It's blistering. But it can be restored.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
An auction value, $2,000 to $3,000.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
In this condition.
GUEST:
Oh, wow. Oh, that's great.
Appraisal Details
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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."
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