February 10, 1919 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



23 



THE "HIGHBOY^' MADE BY SAVERY ABOUT 1860 



Some Old Philadelphia 

 Furniture 



The December number of the 

 Bulletin of the Metropolitan Muse- 

 um of Art, New York, contains an 

 account, with pictures, of some early 

 Philadelphia furniture, made in that 

 city about 1 760, by William Savery, 

 "at the sign of the chair, a little be- 

 low the market in Second Street. " 



The subject of artistic furniture 

 is now receiving much attention and 

 for that reason the find is considered 

 important. Savery appears to oc- 

 cupy a place pretty high among fa- 

 mous furniture makers, though he 

 had been almost forgotten until the 

 investigations brought the work 

 again into notice. 



Savery is said to have made all 

 of his furniture of "Virginia walnut" 

 or of mahogany. Of course the 

 Virginia w^alnut was the reliable 

 black walnut which has been so long 

 and well known in this country. It 

 -was one of the earliest furniture 

 woods used in America. It was 

 abundant on the Atlantic coast 

 south of New York, and it was one 

 of the first woods w^ith which the 

 early settlers became acquainted. 



A recent w^riter in discussing 

 Savery's furniture said it was "made 

 of mahogany or of Virginia walnut 

 of a quality most difficult to distin- 

 guish from mahogany." It is not 

 quite clear why it should be difficult 

 to distinguish black walnut from 

 mahogany. The two woods do not 

 look much alike, if the grain is ex- 

 posed to view. 



Savery obtained rather good 

 prices for his furniture, if a pricelist 

 of the Philadelphia makers about 

 that time applied to his production. 

 The "lowboy" shown in the illus- 

 tration would bring the equivalent 

 of $165, and the "highboy" $350. 

 That pricelist was in force in 175 7 

 and was adopted by six Philadel- 

 phia furniture makers, but Savery's 

 name was not on the list, it being 

 believed that he did not begin to 

 make furniture on his own account 

 till about three years later. 



