Table

Pedestals

Patent date on locking mechanism under table

patent date of Locking mechanism under table

Paw foot brass casters

Can anyone read what this tag says ???

Can anyone read this ?

says "B. Altman" IIRC that was a NYC retail store?

I was thinking it said B. Altman as well but cant make out any of the other words. I have the order number so I was hoping to find a site where I can use that order number to date the furniture. Also would like to find out what the customers name is as well since its hard to read. Thanks for the help.

I can make out the B. Altman aswell as the item saying "98 pedestals" maybe the table top is not original to the pedestals since the pedestals have there own purchase tag as in the pictures. The tag on the pedestals only reference the pedestals and not the table top so maybe the "98" numbers on the tag references the year they were made 1898 ? The table top has a locking mechanism that has a patent date of September 28 1909.

My guess for customer's name is SCHOENFELD

Thanks for the help. I now am assuming the table top did come with the pedestals because after I removed the pedestals from the table top, 1 pedestal had a tag which is pictured above and the other pedestal had a blank spot where a tag should have gone with 3 staples in the exact pattern of the staples in the tag of the other pedestal. after looking at the 2 leaves that came along with the table I noticed a clean blank spot with 3 staples in the pattern of the staples in the tag on the 1 pedestal and the blank spot matches the blank spot size of the pedestal with the missing tag so in my very "novice" opinion I believe that there was also a matching tag on the leaves as well. With all the information on the tag which I have pictured above I would have thought it would be fairly easy to date the table but I can't find any Kaplan Furniture Company archives to look up the order number. Any help on dating this would be GREATLY appreciated. I do believe the table was stained the color it is now some time after purchase since the tag has the brush strokes of the stain on top of the tag. and where the tags used to be are a different color from the stain since who stained it obviously didn't take the tags off to stain underneath it and just stained around tags...

The table came with this crate holding both leaves.

If you are any where near Winterthur, they have an archive for Kaplan Furniture. You might be able to find the actual record of the original sale there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kaplan Archive

Whoever stained this table definitely was NOT a professional. They stained over a piece of tape that was stuck on the underside of table. After I removed the piece of tape it revealed a beautiful wood color that I wish was still showing. What kind of wood do you think this is ???

Thank you for the info on the records for Kaplan. Do you know where Winterthur is ? I am in Connecticut. If not than I will just research on the location of it. Thanks again...

Well I guess Winterthur is in Delaware. That stinks :(

I would guess the table was made in the 1920's or 30's. Kaplan Furniture seems to have been founded in 1919. It closed in 1972, IIRC. The link provided by hoovb above is loaded with information for you (good job, hoovb !) B. Altman was a large department store in New York just as sombreuil said. B. Altman is mentioned in the Winterthur archive. You may be able to find your answer with a little more research. This is a link to a book written by B. Altman about furniture. It appears to be orderable from a library. Have fun, and good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: B. Altman book

I've looked over that Kaplan archive last night and didnt find anything that seemed like it was describing my table. I did find information about patents only being good for 17 years so with that being said would it make sense that the locking mechanism with a patent date of September 28, 1909 wouldn't have been used after 17 years of its patent date since after the 17 years it would no longer have to reference its patent date? So from 1909 to 1926 ? Also from my understanding Kaplan started in 1905 from what I read

Kaplan Furniture Co. records, ca.1919-ca.1972.

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
The Kaplan Furniture Company was established in a tiny shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1905 by Isaac Kaplan, who had emigrated from Russia, via England, with his wife and children just the year before. Maybe the records only go fom 1919

The slip of bare wood looks like mahogany, it's a shame it has that beachy-bleachy stain applied. It would be more stylistically appropriate if it was a traditional mahogany color to match the traditional/Empire mode of its architecture.
Casey

Ya I thought Mahogany too. This table would look great in its original wood color. One good thing is it can always be restored to its original glory right ? I found a very similar Kaplan table in mahogany on ebay with a asking price of like $1,250 and it has 6 people watching...