i was making some shelves for a friend/dealer for a Limbert 3 door case he has now at the Grove Park show.

as a bonus for my help, he gave me a nice but very abused little stand/taboret to play with.

i took it home and began to clean dirt and grime and discovered some great quartered grain on all sides. the top has been replaced or cut down at some point. all sides were originally but joined with glue blocks on the inside. all had come loose and were very poorly nailed back together.

last night i started to knock the whole thing apart to begin regluing split sides, replacing sections of the feet and circle details that were missing.

as i got the final part separated, i saw a small label very near the top inside edge. with the piece assembled the label would be almost impossible to see. i got closer and saw the name and let out an expletive. i have attached some pictures of the outside before disassembly and a picture of the label.

shop of the crafters is a company from cincinnati ohio that made furniture in the early nineteen hundreds. their designs were usually more decorative and showed more european influence than the stickley's. they features lots of cutout designs and inlays.

their stuff has been bringing hefty prices at auction. i will post some of the nicer things later.

anyway, the piece i now have is very small, about nine inches square at the top. it is in such bad shape and in need of so much repair i doubt it holds much value. but it will look nice next to my rocker or morris chair holding a cup of tea.

i will post before and after shots as i get it finished.

So does your friend know about this! Nice piece. Be careful with the finish, because the tag sitting on top of the dark finish suggests that the outer surface dark brown is original, so you'll have to get the paint splotches off without hurting underneath somehow. I just finally ordered a copy of the SoC catalogue reprint (1906), so when it arrives I'll check to see if this is in it.

as you can see in the picture, i have already started cleaning the surface with alcohol to get rid of some of the grime. the grain really pops doing this, i think when i go back with fresh shellac and either black wax or tung oil and wax over the shellac, it will look close to original. as you can see, the finish is missing or severely weakened in places.

where the sides had separated from the glue blocks, a previous owner had nailed the butt joints together, and in several instances, split or exited the surface of the wood. i will try to flatten this as much as possible, but wont try to fill and patch.

i also ordered the catalog as soon as i found the label. the top is the most questionable part. is has no overhang and is clipped on all corners, although not evenly or at the same angle. it also has a hole drilled off center through the top i am hoping the catalog will give me better direction for the top. i will almost certainly have to replace it.

there are also small holes on each side above the circular cutouts. right below this are two paralell indentions and another smaller pair of holes. i wonder if there was a medallion or similar attached. i hope the catalog shows this as well.

it will be a fun project.

quote:

or tung oil and wax over the shellac,

...wil this work? will tung oil harden over shellac? I've never heard of or tried this. To be honest, I avoid tung oil in restorations because it doesn't mimic period finishes, not to say it isn't a good finish but to be faithful and authentic it wasn't something available 'back in the day'.

i have never used tung oil, but understand it is very durable.

as to oil over shellac, my understanding is that shellac can be used as a base for any finish, oil, varnish, laquer, etc,

i will probably just use shellac and black wax to seal.

again, my main interest is what the top looked like on the original. i sure hope the catalog show because i have not been able to find any other reference. hope it gets here soon...

i finally got a chance to see the Shop of the Crafters catalog.

the piece i have is in there, but it's not a stand. turns out it is a base of a huge table lamp. overall with shade it is listed as 28" high.

there are wooden arms that attache midway on the sides (that explains the holes) that form the spider for the shade to rest on. the shade looks to be 18-20 square.

as soon as my catalog arrives, i will post the image.

anyway, i have no place to put something that big, so for now i will make a new top and use it as a taboret.

if i ever get a bigger place and a table big enough to hold it, i may try to recreate the arms and shade and use it for what it originally was intended.

glad i was able to shed some light on it's history.

My copy arrived today, finally. Great catalogue, lots of stuff I've never seen. The lamp is pretty neat - oil as well, not electric, if I'm reading correctly.

So what finish do you think yours is Don? Weathered, fumed, Flemish, Austrian, or Early English?...and how the heck are you supposed to know the difference?!

yes appears to be oil lamp.

does it give a description of the various finishes? which is light,brown dark or black?

i think to show it properly, you would need a library table or large round lamp table, at least 24-30 in diameter. maybe in the center of a library or against the wall in a large entrance hall.

anyway, my small ranch house rooms dont work for that. maybe when i get my bungalow this year....

there's nothing describing each finish that I have seen yet, just a standard statement at the bottom of each page saying "The Crafters recommend their pieces in the dull waxed finishes such as Weathered, Fumed..."

more finishes listed at the end of the catalogue...cathedral, tavern, antwerp, golden oak...

..and as I keep reading..the historical notes from Ken Trapp, say buyers could choose from 12 finishes..

attached is a scan of the lamp from the catalog.

the verbage stresses the handmade quality of the pieces. i assume this accounts for the relatively high prices on their furniture.

most things are 3-5 times higher than a stickley catalog of the same period.

at $26 this would be an expensive lamp.

i sent an email to Cincinnati Art Museum yesterday to see if they have any more reference materials. dont know if kenneth trapp is still there. the introduction to the catalog was written over 20 years ago.

anyway, i think i will attempt to scale the shade based on the catalog scan and the actual measurements of the base. then i can try to find a suitable period shade or attempt to build one myself. there are a number of art glass studios in town, so i should be able to get some help.

The reprint SoC catalogue is pretty cool, don't you think? A very different philosophy going on in ol'Oscar's head.

Check this out on eBay - an original SoC catalogue:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ORIGINAL-SHOP-OF-CRAFTERS-FURNITURE...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

..this seller has a couple other neat things as well..but I don't know about his copper bowl??? ..go through his profile and you can see he bought it just a couple months ago...interesting...he should have waited until his old purchases have cleared...

Anyways, back on topic. If you need plans for shade construction, there is a good set here, re. what they call their 'Prairie Lamp', with all the cuts, blind tenons, etc.:

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/plans/index.cfm/plan_details/5/83/1890

..I've got hard copy of the mag so if you want a scan of just the lamp plans, let me know.

OK, now back to the SoC catalogue - check this listing on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/c1910-RED-MUSTARD-PAINT-ARTS-CRAFTS...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

...and check p.28 in the catalogue... ...too far away for me...I dare ya Don.........

what? you are probably closer to them than i am. thats about 800 mis from me.

anyway, good call, definitely the same piece. at say $1500 on ebay, weeks of stripping, restoration for damage to inside shelves and glass holders, i would have to be able to get at least $3000 to break even...

i think i'll pass.

I guess I should have looked at a map.

Yep, it's too bad it's in the shape it is - I might send the seller a message, if it doesn't sell, to let them know what it is. It's the old story of a worthwhile piece that is essentially worthless (or it just has the value of a painted box, whatever that might be) in the shape it's in, if you have to put a value on how much work it needs, and then it will always be a restored piece and never near the value of original condition.

still trying to track down a contact link for either stephen gray or kenneth trapp, the guys who put the catalog reprint together.

trapp has just retired as curator of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian. no contact info i can find for him.

gray is well know and has written several important books on A&C. cant find any contact info for him either.

i think i will email jerry cohen at craftsman auctions and see if he has ever come across this lamp and if he has any measurements of photos. cant hurt.

also, check out this SOC dining set that was offered for sale few months ago.

Generally, SoC seems to be pretty rare. Various searches (Google/eBay/Rago) don't produce nearly as many hits as other well known names. I just flipped through the Rago catalogue for next week and there is only one table listed as possible SoC (lot 774, matches p. 20, no.110 Mission Table, in the catalog).