The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-05
A BILL FOR OLD FURNITURE.
PRICES JUST A MT HIGHER SOW
THAN A CENTURY AGO.

Good Furniture Made Then Worth Three
Times Its Original Cost NoN--The
Workmanship anu Materials OF To.
day Declared TO Be Just as Good
An East Side cabinetmaker who delights
in the antiquities OF his trade oherishes
an interesting relic OF his most disting uished
predecessor, the famous Duncan Phyfe,
VINO in the first two decades Of the last
century made fine furniture for the most
fastidious householders Of New York.
The relic is bill rendered by Phyfe for
articles of furniture made for Charles n.
Buncker of Philadelphia. 1t il framed
with glass front and back, TO show not only
the items of the bill itself. but the address
OF Buncker, and sketch of u chair and a
SOFA Tho sketches supposed to be the
work OF Phyfe himself, seem TO prove that
however skilled he may have been as a
cabinetmaker he was an uncommonly bad
draughtsman, for the proportions Of the arti-
Giles are ridiculous and the carving il crudely
Indicated. Had Phyfe wrought as he drew
his work would never have been priced by
posterity.
The bill. which bears a date in January.
1916, shows that the best cabinet work Of the
period, when the purchasing power Of money
Is taken into consideration, was at least
no cheaper then than now, though actually
money prices are now somewhat higher.
1t proves too that the well to do OF that
day were ready to pay handsomely for few
articles Of furniture. Phyfe's charge for
a dozen chairs, pair Of card tables, pair
of pier tables and a sofa, with $40 for pack
ing and discount of per cent. for cash,
was $3.50,
The Tyre backed chairs, with delicately
carved legs Of the style for which Phyfe
was famous, are now made by the best
cabinetmakers at s25 or $26 each. Phyfe's
charge was s22. Card ables with the
mechanism for spreading the leaves believed
to have been invented by him. and now
one of the marks by which his tables are
identified, would now cost new and of the
best seasoned mahogany from $50 to $50
pair. Phyfe charged BuIcker $3.50 a
pair.
Phyfe's sofa could now be reproduced
in the best workmanship for $40. or per-
haps $3.50; on his bill Of ninety years ago
it appears at sl22 His pier tables, for which
he charged $685. could now be reproduced
for about $500 Thus the seventeen articles
that Phyfe sold for $3.50 would cost In the
shop of an equally good cabinetmater to-
day from $3.50 to $500, actual cash though
doubtless the smaller sum ninety years
ago had greater purchasing power than the
larger now.
Phyfes profits, too, were probably greater
than those of equally good cabinetmakers
to-day. Wages were lower in his day
than now, mahogany was cheaper. and rents
we're much lower. Interest on the abinet
maker capital was higher. but Phyfe prob
ably had less capital than the best modern
oabinetmakers of to-day, because his work
was mostly made TO order, whereas cabinet
makers nowadays make up many articles
and keep them on show ready for any conner
Phyfe and his contemporaries did not
have public ready To buy anything labelled
antique or produced in imitation of by
gone style. He had one advantage Of the
modern cabinet maker in that he did not
have to compete with factories turning out
furniture by wholesale. but, on the other
hand there were few persons ninety years
ago who could furnish their houses through
out in polished mahogany.
The cabinetmaker who cherishes Phyfe'e |
time stained bill has also one Of his Tyre
backed chairs, perhaps from the set Of
1915, which sold at $22 each. The present |
owner holds it at SEQ, and would hardly let
it go at that. He believes that many col
Ieotors in town would regard II az low at
that price, and that full set of draw wing !
room furniture by Phyfe would fetch at |
least three times the original price.
1t Is unlikely that the work OF any cabinet
maker of to-day will command at the end
of the century the prices that Phyfe's work |
now fetches but the best work of to-day
Ia as good as that OF Phyfe or OF any early
Carvers are at least AZ
sklful as their predecessors, materials
are az carefully selected. construction ia
in some respects better than ever before,
because the cabinetmakers OF to-day
have discovered the defects IN the work
of the earlier men.
In the application of veneer the modern
cabinet maker of good repute especially
excels his predecessors, and IL Ia the rule
no Baa madam EhOnZ TpnONaflnR ]
old pieces to reconst ruct certain parts
because the old methods have proved bad.
If the early men exoelled the best cabinet
makers of to-day in anything, 1t was in
design, and even some OF tho best design
of a century ago we're copied from the
work of the English or French cabinet
makers. A to materials. the ruins
of irreparably dana ged old pieces furnish
the modern cabinetmaker with the very
best seasoned mahogany