Antiques Roadshow

APPRAISER

Peg, you've had this in your home now for four or five years.

GUEST

About four years.

APPRAISER

Let me ask you, have you ever drank tea at it?

GUEST

No, I haven't.

APPRAISER

Have never drank tea. Because it is an 18th-century tea table.

GUEST

Oh, it is?

APPRAISER

They would have probably sat down and maybe a mug of beer once in a while, but usually tea.

GUEST

Oh, yes.

APPRAISER

And how did you come upon the table again?

GUEST

My neighbor, whom I loved very much, gave it to me in her will.

APPRAISER

Okay, you were close to her.

GUEST

I was very close to her. In fact, I did treat her like I would have my mother. I was there for her for the last years of her life, and I loved her very dearly.

APPRAISER

So it's a special...it's not just a table to you. It reminds you of her when you would see it.

GUEST

Yes, I treasured her love, and I treasure the table.

APPRAISER

Well, it's a lovely thing and it is a country table, probably made in New England. Tea was a really popular drink in 18th-century America. It was a way to socialize. And in formal homes, they had very fancy tea tables. They might have a carved cabriole leg or a mahogany piece. Now, this is something made in the rural part of the country. It would have been made outside of Boston or outside of even Hartford, Connecticut, somewhere in New England. Made of maple, which is a native wood. You can see the nice grain in the wood. It has this oval top, and these legs are each turned so you have this square section, and you've got this nice maple wood, they taper down. It's really a Queen Anne leg.

GUEST

Yes

APPRAISER

And then they come into these little button feet. Now, the table always looked like this, did it always have this finish?

GUEST

As long as I have known it, it has looked like that, yes.

APPRAISER

Okay, originally, it probably would have had a reddish wash to make it look like mahogany, a more expensive wood. And that often gets taken away by refinishers. So this has been refinished, but as a refinished Queen Anne circa 1750 to '80 New England table... Also given the fact that I should say two of these feet are replaced. This piece and this piece over here. Considering all of that, because that affects the value, this is worth about $2,500.

GUEST

Oh, how nice.

APPRAISER

If the finish were on it, this table would be worth in the market with an old mahoganized finish about $15,000 to $17,000.

GUEST

Oh, my.