Welcome to the NOVA-Antiques Blog

NOVA-Antiques is the Mid Atlantic website for all things antique and collectible. Our website features antique & collectibles dealers, shops & malls; Flea Market Directory & Reviews; Monthly Antiques Show Calendar; Estate & Tag Sales Page; and our NOVA-Antiques Newsletter, which contains news, articles and information about the antiques & collectibles market. NOVA-Antiques Blog is an extension of our Newsletters.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Colonial Furniture Maker Eliphalet Chapin

Eliphalet Chapin was born in 1741 in Massachusetts but studied the craft of furniture making in Philadelphia. Chapin later moved to East Hartford, Connecticut to set up shop, and become the most renowned furniture maker in that state.

Although he was inspired by the Rococo designed furniture of Philadelphia, Chapin’s creations were lighter and cleaner in detail. While other Connecticut furniture makers of the time were making slim and tall furniture, Chapin was creating more compact and stocky furniture. His style is regarded as one of the most elegant of the period with ball and claw feet as well as scrolled pediments and spiral rosettes.

On a past episode of Antiques Roadshow a woman from Oak Hill, Virginia brought in a cherry tea table that she had purchased at an Estate Sale for a mere $200. Appraiser John Hays removed the top and found although the top and base were originals, made by Chapin the surface had been replaced. Even still the tea table was valued at $15,000 - $20,000. Had the surface been original, the tea table would have brought in closer to $50,000.

NOVA-Antiques Newsletters Archive – July 13, 2006 . . . .

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