10% DISCOUNT POSSIBLE- if you write & request it before the end of August 20th. ITEM- 1980's Gerald Crawford Dollhouse Miniature Chippendale Apothecary Winterthur Museum in 1:12 Scale, possibly a prototype & the first he ever made, & definitely the only one ever made in this finish. DESCRIPTION- This is a fabulous rare piece by Gerald Crawford in a one-of-a-kind dark mahogany colored finish. I have never seen another & have been assured by others there are no others in this finish, which is an accurate copy of the finish on the piece in the museum. All you will ever see come up are in his normal lighter finish & they rarely come up even in the regular finish.
The Cabriole legs terminating in ball in claw feet which are amazingly well carved, probably the best I've ever seen in 1:12th scale. It is truly a gorgeous piece, having 22 drawers, 20 small ones inside the top behind two blind doors over a two drawer base. The bottom two drawers are dovetailed, not just finger jointed, but actual perfect dovetails. The top panels of the case are finger jointed. Think of the time & skill it took to make this. People always think it is some smaller scale but it's is a 1:12 scale piece, as the original is short so the Apothecary could reach all the drawers without standing on top of a stool! It is sometimes called a specimen cabinet. I can't say enough about how great it is & this looks much better in person. It measures 5 & 1/16" tall X 2 & 1/16" wide X 1 deep. RARE PAPER LABEL & HISTORY- I researched & asked a lot of experts & it has been suggested that the paper label on this piece was only used on the first pieces Gerald (went by Jerry) made & submitted to the Winterthur Museum for approval before a line was created based on the museum piece he copied & that after that, he always used a stamped ink label.I can't guarantee it, but there are a couple of pieces of evidience that point to this being true including the original piece he copied which is in a dark mahogany finish & the information found in the 1996 miniature makers marks book. Nineteen hundred eighty-three was the year Gerald was selected and licensed by the Henry Francis Dupont Winterthur Museum and Gardens in Winterthur, Delaware to create authentic miniature reproductions of pieces chosen from their outstanding collections of American decorative arts. Working with one of the finest museums in the world, challenges them to create work that reflects our heritage.
You may know of another in this finish & if so, let me know, but I doubt one exists. The Nutshell News #49 from Summer 1985 tells about his first submissions. The first two he submitted to them were the Rhode Island Tilt Top Tea Table & the shell-backed Queen Anne side chair & notes that the committee has since approved 7 more pieces which were submitted.
It does not note which but this was one of them. It does note how he used walnut to try to match the grain of the mahogany original in the high chest, so I believe at first he tried out a mahogany finish on this piece as a test to match the original but went with a lighter finish in production. Anyway, it's rare with this label & very likely may be the first he ever made & is one-of-a-kind in this finish & it is just superb. Don't let it slip away. CONDITION- This piece is in overall excellent vintage condition, but it does have two small issues.There is a very small spot on the molding of the outer door halfway from the the escutcheon toward the top which is not very visible but can be felt if you run your finger over it. If you didn't know it was there, you would very likely not notice it, but I highlighted it in the last photo with arrows & you can see it if you hover over the next to last photo also. One other thing is a very small spot the size of a pen dot on the right door about 1/2 to the right & slightly above the escutcheon where either the finish was somehow touched as this was drying or it might be a spot of matte finish that got on it somehow, but there is no indention or scratch.
Just be aware of it. It's easy to see in the first photo enlargement. I've never bought a piece where something this small was noted & these type of things are on most vintage pieces with these type of finishes, but I want to be thorough to the point of being anal so there are no surprises & you find it better than I made it sound. ABOUT US- We are Chris & Holly Wood from Scottsville, KY. You may know us from our Here Today, Gone Tomorrow Facebook page or from seeing us at dollhouse miniature shows in Chicago, Philadelphia, or San Jose.We hope you will choose to do business with us. We truly want you to be happy & so we strive to be overwhelmingly anal in pointing out condition to avoid any unwelcome surprises & leave you feeling it is better in person than we made it sound. We describe our items thoroughly & offer many photos. What you see is what you will get. If you read & look thoroughly, you will get what you expect & hopefully you will be pleased.
The item "Gerald Crawford Dollhouse Miniature Apothecary Winterthur Museum 1/1 dark finish" is in sale since Wednesday, February 20, 2019. This item is in the category "Dolls & Bears\Dollhouse Miniatures\Artist Offerings". The seller is "givememineinabottle" and is located in Scottsville, Kentucky.
This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South africa, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Costa rica, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei darussalam, Bolivia, Egypt, French guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman islands, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macao, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Uruguay.