Early American Furniture Gathered by Jacob Margolis, Cabinet Maker of New York City: Including 17th Century Burled Birch Highboy, Early 18th Century Applewood Lowboy and Mahogany Block Front Bureau, with Other Fine Highboys, Escritoires, Chests, Tables an
Excerpt from Early American Furniture Gathered by Jacob Margolis, Cabinet Maker of New York City: Including 17th Century Burled Birch Highboy, Early 18th Century Applewood Lowboy and Mahogany Block Front Bureau, With Other Fine Highboys, Escritoires, Chests, Tables and Chairs in Mahogany, Walnut, Curly Maple, Etc I have gathered the present collection, not as an art connoisseur, but as a cabinet maker of twenty-eight years' experience. I have put the pieces in shape with my own hand, and I want to say what I think is the ...
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Excerpt from Early American Furniture Gathered by Jacob Margolis, Cabinet Maker of New York City: Including 17th Century Burled Birch Highboy, Early 18th Century Applewood Lowboy and Mahogany Block Front Bureau, With Other Fine Highboys, Escritoires, Chests, Tables and Chairs in Mahogany, Walnut, Curly Maple, Etc I have gathered the present collection, not as an art connoisseur, but as a cabinet maker of twenty-eight years' experience. I have put the pieces in shape with my own hand, and I want to say what I think is the right way to finish and preserve early American furniture. Mahogany and maple were never polished; the wood received its soft sheen through often repeated oiling and rubbing. But following a bad fashion, such pieces were later painted in ugly brown, black or barn-red. If we find furniture marred in this way, we have to take 03 the ugly paint and bring the piece back to its original condition by removing the paint. Touching the skin of the wood with a scraper would destroy it, and is to be avoided. Only washing with soda will do. Repeated oiling and rubbing must follow. This is the only good method and the table No. 41 in the present sale shows a curly maple piece, half covered with a disfiguring coat of paint, half restored to its original beauty. In the 18th century, fine furniture was treated in two differ ent ways. It was either used without any finish and cleaned with water, soap and sand, or it was given a quickly absorbed coat of shellac and was then waxed over again and again. From 1800 much furniture was made to be painted immediately, but the earlier pinewood furniture was originally never painted. Therefore, on earlier pieces, the paint ought to be removed. Table No, 25 is a pinewood table painted at a later date. One side has been refinished so as to show plain, untreated pinewood; the other side shows the one coat shellac and wax finish. If collectors say an antique piece of furniture ought never to be touched, they are perfectly right, if the original finish has not been tampered with. If the original finish has been altered, as is the case in 90 per cent. Of the pieces existing, the methods described must be used. They are honest and legitimate, being those of the 18th century. This fact ought to be realized by collectors. All other methods are wrong. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at ... This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Add this copy of Early American Furniture Gathered By Jacob Margolis, to cart. $41.65, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hialeah, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Forgotten Books.
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