George Buess Marble Works

Today my wife and I flipped the center marble piece of a Renaissance Revival drop center dresser and saw this:

"George Buess/
Steam Marble Works/
Manufacturer/
197, 107 & 111 Rivington St./
New York"

I did a little research on Mr. Buess, and found him on Rivington Street in directories between 1865 and 1877, which fits with the style of the dresser and the date we were given for it, 1867.

I doubt if any of you know anything further, as information seems sketchy. I certainly had not heard of him. However, I've been given to understand that certain marble works were sometimes associated with certain furniture makers, which makes sense.

I wonder if Mr. Buess was associated with anyone in paticular? The dresser is 8 feet tall, walnut, teardrop pulls, pretty high style, though with no previous knowledge I would have given it a midwestern provenance, maybe higher end Berkey & Gay?

Anyway, for those archivists out there, there's a marble manufacturer's name associated with some Renaissance Revival furniture between 1865 and 1877. Cheers!

Thanks for sharing, Kevin.  I wasn't able to tie George to any particular cabinetmakers.  I always love to find labels, stencils, handwriting on Victorian furniture.

Thanks! You're right, it is always fun to find documentation of any sort.

By coincidence, we found some writing under another marble piece, written by a purchaser in the 1930s, documenting her name, city, and how old the dresser is/was. Thus we have a date ca. 1870.

I hate to say it, or rather I love to say it, but the piece is exceptionally beautiful and has a rather "Brooks-ish" look. But I really can't make that kind of big call in good conscience, so I'll just stick with the Buess attribution, which I can say without a shadow of a doubt.