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Outstanding Queen Anne Carved Cherry Bonnet-Top Highboy of classic design
and diminutive scale having a broken arch top with enclosed bonnet, fan carved
central drawers in both the upper and lower cases, overlapping drawers, most of
its original brasses and a beautifully shaped apron continuing to cabriole legs
ending in platformed pad feet.
Retaining a fine old surface and being all original except for the finials
(which are approximately 100 years old), three pull plates, one escutcheon
plate, brass posts, three knee returns and other customary minor repairs.
Farmington or Wethersfield, Connecticut, circa 1793.
Height 87½”, 37¼” (at lower case), 20¼” deep.
Provenance: Leading Connecticut furniture scholar Thomas Kugelman
believes this highboy dates from the 1793 wedding of Appleton Robbins of
Wethersfield and Chloe Curtis of Farmington. Since such high chests were often
paid for by the bride's father it could well have been made in Farmington rather
than Wethersfield. They were adjacent towns back then. Probable line of
decent: Appleton Robbins (1764-1850) and Chloe Curtis (1772-1849) in 1793;
to their daughter Catherine Robbins Hillyer (1801-1890); to her son Appleton
Robbins Hillyer (1833-1915), to his daughter Mary Bushnell Hillyer Seaverns
(1880-1947); to her son Appleton Hillyer Seaverns (1916-2007).
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