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Nakashima-style Table, ca. 1950

Value (2019) | $650 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
I owned a little antique store for about a year. And we were put in contact with a gentleman that was selling his father's estate. He told us that his father worked for a company and that this gentleman that made the furniture for this company was under commission to make special furniture, and that it was an unsigned piece, and that the gentleman gave this table to his father and that it possibly could be a George Nakashima.

APPRAISER:
It is a very natural slab of cypress and probably made at the time, certainly, that George Nakashima was working. Now, we've seen Nakashima furniture here on the "ROADSHOW" before. And of course, he's called the grandfather of the crafts movement here in America. He was a Japanese-American, and made furniture of natural materials. And as we can see, there is this plank which is just as though it were cut off of a tree and, and polished a tiny bit.

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
But you can see its undulating form, its irregular form. It still has knotholes in it here that have just been polished to use. Let's flip this over. You can see that there are two pieces of metal holding this natural piece of wood together. Now, it is not the kind of construction that we would see Nakashima making. We would have expected him to make a beautiful... what's called "dutchman" in cabinetry, and it would be a butterfly hinge-- it would look like an hourglass or butterfly wings.

GUEST:
Oh, okay.

APPRAISER:
And he would have held the two pieces of wood breaking apart together with that. Another thing that I would look at are these legs and the fact that they are painted black. I would have expected a Nakashima table to have a natural wood and much more of a canted leg. These legs are quite straight. So the table has a little bit of a stiff quality to it, where Nakashima is known for his grace and elegance and, and natural design.

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
So I'm not thinking that this is a Nakashima table, although possibly made in the New Hope area where he worked by some of the other craftsmen. How much did you pay for the table? Do you..?

GUEST:
We paid $400 for it.

APPRAISER:
$400, okay. A Nakashima table would be selling in the $30,000 range, a lot of money these days. His prices are just continuing because this modern movement is so popular. And I think that that is helpful for this generation of furniture, because it sort of rides on the coattails of Nakashima.

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
This table, I would say probably would bring about $1,000 at auction. We'd call it "in the style of George Nakashima"...

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
"School of George Nakashima."

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
But not by him.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Karen Keane
Decorative Arts, Furniture
Skinner, Inc.
Boston, MA
Update (2019)
$650 Auction
Appraised value (2004)
$1,000 Auction
Featured In
Memphis, Hour 2 (#0909)
Vintage Memphis (#2322)
Event
Memphis, TN (July 31, 2004)
Category
Furniture
Period
20th Century
Form
Table
Material
Cypress

Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."

Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.

Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.

Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.

Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.

Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.

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