Queen Anne Maple Tea Table, ca. 1755
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APPRAISER:
Peg, you've had this in your home now for four or five years.
GUEST:
About four years.
APPRAISER:
Let me ask you, have you ever drank tea at it?
GUEST:
No, I haven't.
APPRAISER:
Have never drank tea. Because it is an 18th-century tea table.
GUEST:
Oh, it is?
APPRAISER:
They would have probably sat down and maybe a mug of beer once in a while, but usually tea.
GUEST:
Oh, yes.
APPRAISER:
And how did you come upon the table again?
GUEST:
My neighbor, whom I loved very much, gave it to me in her will.
APPRAISER:
Okay, you were close to her.
GUEST:
I was very close to her. In fact, I did treat her like I would have my mother. I was there for her for the last years of her life, and I loved her very dearly.
APPRAISER:
So it's a special...it's not just a table to you. It reminds you of her when you would see it.
GUEST:
Yes, I treasured her love, and I treasure the table.
APPRAISER:
Well, it's a lovely thing and it is a country table, probably made in New England. Tea was a really popular drink in 18th-century America. It was a way to socialize. And in formal homes, they had very fancy tea tables. They might have a carved cabriole leg or a mahogany piece. Now, this is something made in the rural part of the country. It would have been made outside of Boston or outside of even Hartford, Connecticut, somewhere in New England. Made of maple, which is a native wood. You can see the nice grain in the wood. It has this oval top, and these legs are each turned so you have this square section, and you've got this nice maple wood, they taper down. It's really a Queen Anne leg.
GUEST:
Yes
APPRAISER:
And then they come into these little button feet. Now, the table always looked like this, did it always have this finish?
GUEST:
As long as I have known it, it has looked like that, yes.
APPRAISER:
Okay, originally, it probably would have had a reddish wash to make it look like mahogany, a more expensive wood. And that often gets taken away by refinishers. So this has been refinished, but as a refinished Queen Anne circa 1750 to '80 New England table... Also given the fact that I should say two of these feet are replaced. This piece and this piece over here. Considering all of that, because that affects the value, this is worth about $2,500.
GUEST:
Oh, how nice.
APPRAISER:
If the finish were on it, this table would be worth in the market with an old mahoganized finish about $15,000 to $17,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my.
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