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Newport Furniture
Approximately 100 cabinetmakers worked in Newport during the 1700s, producing furniture for local customers and for shipment to the other colonies. Led by the Townsend and Goddard families, Newport cabinetmakers developed furniture designs that were unique among American craftsmen and noted for their exceptional craftsmanship. Newport
furniture designs evolved differently from those of Boston and Philadelphia,
with less English influence on the style.
Block fronts, curved-ray shells, and bold ball and claw
feet were some of the more notable points
of Newport furniture, but the forte of Newport makers was their ability to
design with striking proportions and use
ornament sparingly. As an American art form, rare original examples of Newport
furniture are cherished by collectors and museums and command record
prices at auction. The record price for a piece of American furniture is $12.1 million paid in 1988 for the Nicholas Brown secretaire (at right), an unsigned Newport secretaire, which at 113" is the tallest of the nine existing originals. Another important example of Newport furniture, and one that testifies to the importance of an original finish, is an Edmund Townsend kneehole bureau (below) in virtually untouched condition that sold in 1995 for $3.6 million, three to four times the price at that time for a similar piece without a period surface.
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