Philip & Kelvin LaVerne Table, ca. 1982
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GUEST:
Well, this is my grandmother's table. She bought it in 1982. She was always very interested in metalwork, so we weren't surprised when she sent my uncle down in his truck to New York City to pick up this table. We didn't really know much about it other than the fact that it was, at one point, buried in dirt. We did a little research and found out that it was made by the LaVerne Studios?
APPRAISER:
And how much did she pay for it, do you recall?
GUEST:
$6,000.
APPRAISER:
$6,000.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
So, in 1982, this table would have probably retailed for more than that. They probably actually got a good price at $6,000, believe it or not.
GUEST:
Yeah, she did mention that because she didn't use a designer, that they took $4,000 off the price of the table because she purchased it directly.
APPRAISER:
Right. In the '80s, this company had already been producing these tables for about 15 or 20 years. So in 1982, it was probably brand-new. My information says that these were about $10,000 retail at that time. By the mid-1980s, the design team of Philip and Kelvin LaVerne-- a father-and-son team in New York-- were very well-known. They were highly prized works that were sold through decorators, through high-end design shops, and, of course, you can buy them directly from the LaVernes if you knew somebody.
GUEST:
(chuckling): Right.
APPRAISE: It's made out of bronze with a proprietary process that Philip and Kelvin LaVerne were able to make by etching these bronze plates and attaching them to a substructure. In this case, to a scroll shape, but the same pattern here, called the marriage whirl, would've been used on consoles, end tables, various other types of furniture. The LaVernes took their objects and would actually bury them in a proprietary mix of soil to give it a patina. Your example is in really beautiful condition. There's no heavy scratches, dents. I think that if this came up in a well-publicized auction, it would probably sell for between $15,000 and $20,000.
GUEST:
Well, that's... that's really good. (laughs) I'm just a little stunned. (laughs) Very good.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
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