.... the best i ever had?
Sometimes you just get lucky. Around 1986 my wife and I were just getting into Victorian furniture and we were essentially looking at estate sales in Northern NJ. We had very little money, but tons of free time and of course we had a lot of fun. One saturday at a house contents sale in Weehawken NJ we found this piece for $125.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j285/zekenstein/IMG_1223.jpg
The house had no other Victorian in it, just this one piece. We asked if we could have it for $75 (hey we just bought a house and were young, foolish and very poor! We were told if it didn?t sell by Sunday morning it was ours for $75. We went back next morning and it was still there and ours for the princely sum of seventy five dollars.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j285/zekenstein/IMG_1224.jpg
The woman who owned the house told us it was a
built-in from an old courthouse that was demolished and people were just taking the architectural elements. The deep cutouts for some very fancy base molding seem to bear out her story and, indeed the piece was made this way as the back of the cabinet is constructed for the cut outs.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j285/zekenstein/RenRevCabinet.jpg
The top was very scratched but the rest was in great condition so we just put a lace runner on top and lived with it for a year. My good freind, Doug Schmidt, refinished the top for me and polished and regilded the incising and added castors for me, but aside from that it?s in as found condition.
I moved it today to clean around it and I hadn?t admired it for a while, gee, we had it for 24 years now! I thought to myself, holy crap, we got this for $75, that sure don?t happen much more these days!
Just thought I?d share :)
Zekesters
I call that a bargain....
Archive summary
Victorian Furniture thread on victorianforum.com · started May 23, 2008 by zeke · 4 posts · discussion in 2008.
.... the best i ever had? Sometimes you just get lucky. Around 1986 my wife and I were just getting into Victorian furniture and we were essentially looking at estate sales in Northern NJ. We had very little money, but tons of free time and of course we had a lot of fun. One…
I'm glad you're not quoting "Won't get fooled again".
Good story, Zeke, and nice cabinet for a whopping $75. And it seems like Doug Schmidt is a good friend to have.
I've been wondering if I should start following estate sales as a new avenue for finding items. Maybe this will inspire me to check the classifieds for this weekend...
Good story, Zeke, and nice cabinet for a whopping $75. And it seems like Doug Schmidt is a good friend to have.
I've been wondering if I should start following estate sales as a new avenue for finding items. Maybe this will inspire me to check the classifieds for this weekend...
Yeah, but back in '86 $75.00 was actually worth $75.00 and you could get some milage out of it.
Today you can just about fill your gas tank with it (that's if you don't have too big of a gas tank). Still, it was a good bargain though for sure. woodwright
Today you can just about fill your gas tank with it (that's if you don't have too big of a gas tank). Still, it was a good bargain though for sure. woodwright
Boy Woodwright, I put $75 worth of gas in my 4 door Wrangler today and thought about your post. The gasoline will be gone in a few days but my Ren-Rev cabinet has lasted about 130 years so I still think its a bargain! Nice observation though!
I have a theory that most Victorian furniture had a tendency to remain in the area it was made. Sure, with the advent of rail freight it was shipped west and east even in 1870 and Herter stuff went to California, Mitchell and Rammelsberg pieces went to New york and Berkey and Gay furniture went from Grand rapids to Chicago and eastward to New york. This stuff was heavy though and I think much of it stayed in the general area where it was made. I live in the jersey side of new york city and there is some good stuff to be found in upscale areas here. Bargains ain't what they used to be but you can still find some things if you are patient and have an awful lot of time on your hands.
I think everyone on these message boards could start or contribute to a "won't get fooled again" thread and i have some rather embarrassing stories myself but hey, that's one of the main reasons this forum exists, to help each other not get fooled and to educate each other about what we have learned about our passion for Victorian furniture.
OK Who's next?
I have a theory that most Victorian furniture had a tendency to remain in the area it was made. Sure, with the advent of rail freight it was shipped west and east even in 1870 and Herter stuff went to California, Mitchell and Rammelsberg pieces went to New york and Berkey and Gay furniture went from Grand rapids to Chicago and eastward to New york. This stuff was heavy though and I think much of it stayed in the general area where it was made. I live in the jersey side of new york city and there is some good stuff to be found in upscale areas here. Bargains ain't what they used to be but you can still find some things if you are patient and have an awful lot of time on your hands.
I think everyone on these message boards could start or contribute to a "won't get fooled again" thread and i have some rather embarrassing stories myself but hey, that's one of the main reasons this forum exists, to help each other not get fooled and to educate each other about what we have learned about our passion for Victorian furniture.
OK Who's next?