Monday

Re: Monday, Hints.

-Contemporary of Chippendale

-Didn't live to see the Revolution and was in fact a Tory.

-Turned out over a thousand pieces of high quality cabinetry--especially chests

-Worth about 44,000 pounds in that state's currency and had houses and plantations all over his resident state.

-Batwings in this case refers to the brasses on his work

Re: Monday more hints

This man was in Charleston. Prolific maker if his records are correct.

Used the figure 8 and diamond as a pattern for his fretwork

Known for chest on chest, and (a spectacular) chest on chest on chest. But nobody knows absolutely for certain if any of the furniture attributed to him is his as he didn�t sign anything. Many think he did chair and bed for governor for S. Carolina, possibly a bed at Shirley plantation, and chest for William Washington (GW�s cousin) and an additional bed at Winterthur. Used U-Dots on his furniture which are dots carved in the wood at the end of some flutes. Find one and you're a rich person.

Re: Gary...

I believe you are stump us all. Thanks for the questions....Dale

Re: Monday answer

Thomas Elfe. Prolific craftsman. You know his work if not him if you are a fan of exceptional traditional furniture of the colonial period. High end furniture companies like Baker and Craftique have borrowed his designs like the famous Rice Post Bed, chairs and, of course, drawered cabinetry even though nobody knows for sure except by paperwork and receipts that it might have originated by Elfe. Fretwork, dots and unique cypress inner wood, batwing brasses are the key indicators. Experts think that there are in excess of 1600 pieces by him or his workers out there but no one knows for sure as the tradition of London trained cabinetmakers of the time was to not sign pieces. Watch for his (thought to be)work someday on the Antiques Roadshow�someone has a bloody fortune sitting in their home.