The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-08-22
DEMAND FOR CURLY MAPLE.
Mahogany Has Given Way to the
Other Wood and Things That Once
Sold For a Dollar Now Bring FIFTY,

hhttANoAs HiohObohgs Waihhuhs O'n Nh1
even the ancient pine have given
place to curly maple. There are
scores of dealers and collectors today
who have abandoned the search for
mahogany and are securing the VIII
lagos OF Connecticut and the old
farmhouses of New York State for
quaint four poster beds, chests, desKs
cabinets, highboys and lowboys,
carved from the curling, twisting
maple boughs, to which time has
added the rich tones of old brown,
ivory and amber.
One of the best known collectors
and dealers in old furniture In New
York--a woman. by the way-has
filled her workshop and her show
rooms with curly maple and is KEEP
busy supplying the demand that has
sprung up among the fashionable New
Workers..
Curly maple is quite the most in
demand OF any wood at the present
time," she said. "and ! believe its
popularity will last even longer than
the craze for old mahogany"
why do | think that? Because II
ls so much prettier in the first place,
and 1t is much more difficult now TO
find a piece of old curly maple than it
Is to pick up u piece of old mahogany.
There never was such "a great amount
OF II made, and there have been com
paratively few limitations. So IL you
do come across a piece It is almost
sure to be genuine.
"A few years ago." she went on,
you could buy curly maple -four
poster bed at almost any auction sale
for ridiculously small price. / have
seen them sold for as low as $1-beds
that would bring now from $25 to $50.
! bought many fine pieces then, much
to the surprise of other dealers, who
wondered what ! wanted with furni-
tnre for which there was no demand.
But l liked the color, the beautiful,
rich tone OF the wood and the delicate
shapes, and | bought partly to crafty
my personal taste and partly because
was NOiAN lllil lhtlO MOhih
soon be an awakening to the real
beauty of the furniture.
Now, with my storerooms stocked
and old furniture collectors crying for
curly maple, | could get from these
same dealers many times the price !
paid for every piece. / have furnished
several complete rooms In the homes
OF well known New Workers in curly
maple, and every room has brought
more orders than / can fill. In one
instance. in house on Fifth avenue,
] furnished a room with curly maple
replacing an entire set of old mahog-
any, and the effect was very much
more beautiful.
Curly maple began to be used for
making furniture in the seventeenth
century, just preceding the use of ma
hogany Many of the shapes of the
old mahogany furniture of the late
seventeenth century and early eigh-
teenth century are copied from the old
maple furniture. The swell front bu-
reau is one of the rarest pieces OF
curly maple to be found nowadays. al
though chairs and old eouches are also
difficult to obtain. IL is only in the ex-
tremely old settlements that one now
comes upon desirable pieces.
Pine was the first wood used In
America for making furniture, and II
dates as far back as 1860. There are Q
few pieces of the carved pine furni
tire still to be had. but a genuine
old pine wainscot table may be re.
garded as q most cherished possession
One Of the famous ones of this woot
Is a nobject of great interest to anti
ouarians in the Metropolitan Mu
scum. One Of medium size like tha
OF mine will bring from $75 to 800 to
day. ~.
After pine came the red walnut o
the South, then in New England cherr!
and curly maple. After that came
mahogany and then oak. Chests o
drawers in maple, mahogany and oal
FIRST appeared in the last part of th'
seventeenth century. II was not unit
the eighteenth century that secre
taries, desks and bookcases cases wer
made of these woods.
THE Dutch feet, which are so grace
ftll, will be found in either cherry o.
maple, but seldom in mahogany Il
fact there were many graceful line
made in maple which were forgotten
at the later period and are not repro
| duced
ITO my mind and to those who ap
preciate really old furniture and low
II for the beauty Of the wood and tn
graceful lines curly maple Is the fines
OF all furniture.
Curly maple can never entirel
take the place OF mahogany, but col
lectors now seem interested in littl
else. Unlike mahogany, the quantit
and variety on the market Is limited
and its rarity makes It obtainable oal
by the w,"-New York Sun.