Develop a sharp eye - let's compare two tea tables

The whole purpose of this forum is education in furniture and with the arrival of some John Buchanan furniture yesterday I want to show you how to tell a good piece from a GREAT piece. In my store already was a Porringer Tea Table from another long-term supplier of mine, J.L. Treharn and Co. They do excellent work, but John Buchanan is a Master Cabinetmaker, and this pictorial is going to point out details that people who know furniture look for. In 200 years from now, both these tables will be collectibles, but one will fetch far more than the other and here's why.

For the record, 95% of everyone that walks into my store buys on price and color. Rare is the customer who knows the Art of Furniture, and I want to take you beyond price and color and help you develop that critical eye to look as this as art, not just function.

First off, the design is classic 18th Century Rhode Island, and these were popular tables of the day, typically its highest form was done by the Goddard-Townsend workshops just south of Fall River, RI. Here's an original from Albert Sack's book and the intent of any good replica is to copy or be as faithful as possible to the original.

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And onto our two tables, both in Tiger (or sometimes called Curly) Maple. As you can see, they are reasonably close in price.

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Let's start with the top. Ideally a single board top would be preferably but should you happen to ever find a piece of Tiger Maple that wide, you would not use it in a table top and instead save it for a Secretary Desk Lid or a Highboy. So you are going to have a glue up on the board. The Buchanan has 2-boards that are 'bookmatched' the Treharn has 3-boards that are more randomly selected. Additionally look at the shape of the 'ears' on the table top, the Buchanan piece is truer to the original, the Treharn ones are a bit too large and slightly out of scale with the body of the table. And of course, there is one more subtle detail in the Buchanan piece, a slight arc between the two ears that is original to many of these antiques and adds a bit of style and grace to the form of the top.

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Now onto the base. Here's where your critical eye comes in and I have tried to capture the difference with the camera. The legs of the Treharn piece are set 90 degrees to the skirt and go straight down. The Buchanan piece is set at 88 degrees to the skirt, they are angled outwards by a scant 2 degrees in both axis of the piece. Can you see the slight difference? Can you tell why this done? For the record, it makes it a much more complex piece to build as your mortise and tenon joints have to be changed two degrees as well. It is much faster and less costly to make things in 90 degree lines. You can also see the Treharn table leg is a little too thin, it should be more stout - and that's a fine line as a leg like this can go from the right form to clunky in just a few fractions of an inch. Look at the original in the first photo, then come back and look and the legs on these two and you will see. The pad on the bottom of the foot of the Buchanan piece is also thicker, as it should be.

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The answer is - that 2 degrees adds style and grace to that Queen Anne Dutch Foot. without it they look a bit stubby, with it the form takes it best shape. You can also see if this was done by flipping the table over and if the tops of the legs are chamfered level, then you know this is in play on the table. And yes, the originals had that 2 degree offset as well.

Bottom line, for the slight extra cost of the Buchanan table you are getting a much more graceful piece, and one that anyone who knows fine furniture can tell was hand-made. Therefore one day, to someone - it will be the more valuable ot the two.

Interesting comparison, thank you for posting! I wondered if Mr. Buchanan was still making furniture, I've admired his pieces for years.

Yes he is. In fact he is just finishing up a custom order of (4) pieces right now and is ready for a new project. So if there is something you are thinking of having made, its a great time to do it.

I have him working up a prototype for a new design on a contemporary floor standing Entertainment center designed to use with wall mounted flat panel TV. Something I thought up and sketched out. We are going to build one and see what it looks like. If it comes out like I hope it will, it will be UPS-able in a cardboard box and easy to put together.

Nice sharing. I'm looking forward to the great piece of furniture made by you guys.