Bay Colony Antiques is extremely proud to offer for sale this wonderful 19th century antique cherry drop leaf table. The table has a single drawer with an embossed brass pull, shaped leaves, and finely carved legs. The table retains its original paper label showing this was made in Springfield, MA by JF Holbrook. Not much is known about JF Holbrook as even our best Connecticut River Valley Cabinet makers are severely underrepresented outside of Pelatiah Bliss, William Lloyd, Eliphalet Chapin, etc..
Historic Deerfield owns another Holbrook piece with the same label reading “Cabinet Furniture Manufactured By JF Holbrook Opposite Day Brewer & Dwight's Store, In Carew’s Building Springfield, Mass” The store was originally owned by merchant James Dwight and once stood at the corner of Dwight st & Main st. We can help date this table by looking at the nomenclature itself as the store wasn’t referred to as Day Brewer & Dwight's until about 1820 when James passed away but his son, also named James Dwight, remained a partner in the firm. Dwight’s store is no longer standing and close to all of the important 18th century homes in Springfield are gone. Dwight st, Main st, & State st were once among the best places to live in Springfield MA with beautiful homes and nicely manicured landscapes. Dwight’s property on the corner of State & Dwight was demolished and eventually a large retail building was built in its location and today it’s the Mass Mutual Exposition Center. We apologize for the long-winded history of the area but our warehouse is in Springfield and we drive by this corner every single day. If you do happen to be in the area, we would highly recommend a visit to the Quadrangle which houses the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, The D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, The Wood Museum of Springfield History, The Springfield Science Museum, and the Dr Seuss Museum all in one centralized area. The Science Museum & Dr Seuss areas are excellent for young children and the other “adult” museums house world class collections hidden in Springfield.
The label shows this table was made in Carew's building which stood across from Dwight’s store. The building operated as multi-tenant building and was fitted with state of the art machines & heavy equipment which is probably what led to it’s ultimate destruction considering it burned down in the 1870’s. This table was made around 1830 and is built from a native Cherry probably for a local family of Modest wealth. The carvings on the legs are well executed and we love the flared cups above the tight ringlet turnings. The rarity of the label and the fact that this was made by a lesser known Springfield cabinet maker makes this one of our favorite new acquisitions. We purchased this up in Vermont and somebody wrote “do not remove this card it is very old”. The bottom of the card appears to read “T. W Root - Forbes Greenfield”. We did a quick records search and found multiple members of the Root and Forbes family in Greenfield throughout the late 18th & early 19th century. The table measures 21 3/8” wide x 36” deep x 28 1/4” tall. When the leaves are locked up the top measures 46” wide x 36” deep.
