Regency Etagère, ca. 1835

Appraised on: June 30, 2007

Appraised in: Orlando, Florida

Appraised by: Leslie Keno

Category: Furniture

Episode Info: Orlando, Hour 2 (#1205)

Originally Aired: February 4, 2008

IMAGE: 1 of 2  

Appraisal Video: (2:40)

GUEST: In early '82, I bought it at a yard sale. I had just moved into the area,

APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: and I needed some furniture. And this looked like a really good shelving unit

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: for anything. For $20, I couldn't lose.

APPRAISER: It was $20? It was $20?

GUEST: Yes. Yes, $20.

APPRAISER: I heard that right, okay. Then what have you been doing with it since? You been using it or...

GUEST: Yes, I have different glassware on it, like cake stands. I've got some marble eggs.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: And little odds and ends that people give you or you pick up. That's what I have it on, because it's so rugged.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: It has wheels so I can roll it around real easily.

APPRAISER: Well, one of the great things about Regency furniture, Regency period...

GUEST: This is Regency?

APPRAISER: Regency furniture in England. The great thing about that period is they had specific functions for almost every piece of furniture. And what this is, is a server, an étagère, and these large graduated trays here would hold trays of food, silver, pottery-- sort of like a large sideboard.

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER: The great thing is, it's sort of like a movable feast, because this is on wheels, right?

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: And you can just roll it over to the table. And there are these great hidden casters underneath.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And it weighs a lot because it's made of the best quality mahogany. It's really dense. It's this beautiful rich wood.

GUEST: Oh, I'm so thrilled.

APPRAISER: And it has these great motifs, these wonderful scrolls which are coming out of the cabinetmaker and designer's interest in ancient Greece and in Egypt. And you see these great scrolls, the Greek key motifs here on the feet.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: Looking underneath here, I did find some traces of red and black paint. So, originally, even though this is mahogany, it would have been faux-grained to look like rosewood, which was another exotic wood, of course. So this would have been, literally, probably striped with rays and black rings to simulate rosewood.

GUEST: Whoa.

APPRAISER: You can imagine how it would have looked.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: And that does affect its value a little bit. What's on there now is sort of like a shellac. It was probably put on in the 19th century, you know?

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: But it's a beautiful quality piece. I love the proportions, the way it's graduated. Isn't it great?

GUEST: It is so attractive. That's what... I just fell in love with it.

APPRAISER: It probably dates about 1835, original casters. The value on this, if I were insuring this,

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: would be probably right in the range of probably around $10,000.

GUEST: My goodness! My daughter made a comment to me one time about all my junk.

APPRAISER: Nice piece of junk.

GUEST: I love it!

APPRAISER: Well, I thank you very much.

GUEST: Thank you.