Gustav Stickley Library Table, ca. 1905
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GUEST:
My mother got it back in the early '70s from a neighbor of hers. She paid the lady $35.
APPRAISER:
Let me tell you a few things about it. It's a Gustav Stickley three-drawer library table, and it's a form Gustav Stickley liked a lot. And he made it from 1901 until about 1915, so it's one of those forms that went through an evolution of design through the duration of his being in the furniture making business. We know it's an early table for several reasons. Number one, the marks on the inside of the drawer are fairly early marks. They're not the earliest ones, but they date this to about 1905 or 1906, sort of in the middle of his production. The other ways that we know it's a fairly early table is the wood selection. There's a tremendous amount of quartered oak running all throughout the top of the table, the legs, the drawers. Later pieces had less quartered oak. It was expensive and rather wasteful cut of wood to make. The piece has hammered iron, wrought iron pulls. These are all done by hand. Within the Arts and Crafts vernacular, handmade is best. It's a very simple table. There's not much going on here. So things like the expressive grain of the wood, the wrought mark from the planishing of the metal. These are considered decoration. I think the other thing that is interesting about your piece is the finish is, for the most part original. It's a little worn on the top, but with the original finish, without the termite damage, this is a $10,000 to $15,000 table. This is fairly significant damage on the back leg of this table. This leg would either have to be completely replaced or certainly patched in, and that's the reason why it's only worth about $5,000 to $7,500. But all in all, one of Gustav's best library table forms. A good middle period piece. An heirloom, I think, for your family.
GUEST:
Yeah, I really like it. I wish I could get chairs to go with it.
APPRAISER:
Well, it's not really... it's not a sitting piece.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Because of the drawers, your knees won't clear it, and, also, you'll have bruises on your shins from pulling up against the shelf.
GUESR: Well, if you're short like me, it works out.
APPRAISER:
Hey, whatever works for you.
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