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Oregon Arts & Crafts Bookcase, ca. 1902

Value (2017) | $1,000 Auction – $2,500 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
This bookcase was given to my grandfather when he was executive secretary of the YMCA in Portland. He came to Portland in 1896. At that time it was a very struggling organization. There'd been a recession, and a lot of YMCAs had gone out of business. And he basically built it into a pretty thriving organization.

APPRAISER:
It's an Arts and Crafts piece of furniture...

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER:
...that was presented to this gentleman who was your great-grandfather.

GUEST:
In 1902.

APPRAISER:
His photograph is there, Mr. Stone.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
And then you also have this photograph. It identifies him as the cabinetmaker, right?

GUEST:
Right, Mr. Stodley.

APPRAISER:
And you don't know anything about him?

GUEST:
I know nothing about him.

APPRAISER:
I did a little bit of brief research this morning, and wasn't able to come up with anything either.

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
I do think that this is an important piece of Oregon, Portland history, though. If we read across the top here, it says, "Infinite riches in a little room." And this is very much in keeping with the Arts and Crafts movement. Beneath that, we get these wonderful paned and beveled glass doors that open up with this wonderful hardware, and this great presentation. It's interesting that you don't see much presentation furniture. You see it in silver and so forth. And I wanted to read this. "To all to whom these presents come, greetings. "This gift to H.W. Stone is from ye hands and hearts of ye craftsmen and fellow laborers in ye YMCA, Portland, Oregon, Christmas Day, AD 1902." Oregon has a long legacy and heritage of furniture making.

GUEST:
Yes.

APPRAISER:
And furniture's riches also come from its timber and its lumber industry, which brings us to this bottom part. Underneath this shelf you can see this wood here, which is redwood. We can identify this by its secondary wood as a piece of Oregon furniture. And then you also have fumed oak, which was done... not necessarily a stain that you'll see here, but it was a steaming that would bring out the color from inside the wood, which is very much in keeping again with the Arts and Crafts style. It's not pure, it takes on different styles of the Arts and Crafts movement, but it's not what the connoisseurs would consider a pure form. Very important to Portland history, very important to you. I think if it went to auction, you would expect to reach maybe $2,500, $3,500 I think would be a fair and conservative estimate.

GUEST:
Mm-hmm.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Brian Witherell
Furniture
Witherell's
Sacramento, CA
Update (2017)
$1,000 Auction – $2,500 Auction
Appraised value (2004)
$2,500 Auction – $3,500 Auction
Featured In
Portland, Hour 3 (#0915)
Our 50 States Part 2 (#2129)
Event
Portland, OR (August 21, 2004)
Category
Furniture
Period
20th Century , Arts and Crafts
Form
Bookcase
Material
Wood

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.

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