JWM - Volume 2, Issue 4 - (Page 50)

ARTS Hidden Treasures Is that table in the corner a valuable heirloom worthy of auction? Your tea cup may just be sitting on a fortune. BY C H AR L E S SL AC K he old tea table sat for years, practically unnoticed in the corner of a dining room in suburban Philadelphia. In 2007, after the homeowner died, family members set about deciding what to do with a houseful of furniture. What they got was the surprise of a lifetime. The table, which might have sold for a relative pittance in an estate sale, caught the attention of an appraiser who recognized pre-revolutionary American craftsmanship. Closer examination revealed the intricately carved, Rococo pie-crusttopped table as the likely work of a 1760s-era Philadelphia master known only as the “Garvan carver.” Estimated at $2 to 3 million, it commanded $6.76 million at a Christie’s auction in New York in October 2007. The event “just kind of blew everybody away,” says Todd Sigety, a Washington, D.C.-area antique furniture specialist and president of the International Society of Appraisers. While such ﬁnds are few and far between, who can resist the thought @ T J WM MAGAZINE 50 J W M A R R I O T T. C O M http://www.JWMARRIOTT.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JWM - Volume 2, Issue 4

JWM - Volume 2, Issue 4
Table of Contents
Contributors
JW Experts
Editor’s Letter
Distinctive Products, People, Ideas & Style
A Quiet Place
The Food Trap
Start With the Wine
Hidden Treasures
The Portal
Hidden Hong Kong
Grains of Truth
Game Theory
Mumbai Dreams
JW Experience
My Passion

JWM - Volume 2, Issue 4