We recently bought an interesting Federal chest on chest from the Salem, MA school of cabinetmakers and wood carvers. We have just begun doing a little research on it. Matt was pretty excited to find that the carved rosettes are a nearly identical match to some attributed to the McIntire workshop by Dean Lahikainan in his book entitled, Samuel McIntire, Carving an American Style. It’s nice when the research supports our initial impressions. The carvings still show remnants of original gilding on the berries. It must have looked amazing when the surface was bright gold leaf.
I made a visit to Nantucket last weekend. Walking on Main Street there is like stepping back into the 18th century. It’s always a pleasure to walk around, taking in the architecture. Stopped into the Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) and checked out the new Exhibit of objects from their collection. Wish I had time to see the new Rick Burns film on the history of Nantucket. It just opened at the NHA on July 1st. Have to go back soon to see it.
We’ve had great response to posting the prices of some of our inventory on the website. I think this system is here to stay. We are still tweaking the website and will be making changes and adding content in the coming months. There are a number of instructional videos that we plan to produce and post on the site, but finding the time is difficult.
Brimfield is next week. I’ll probably go one day. The July show is always very hot. I hope the tornado didn’t put any of the venues out of business. I don’t think it did.