Berkey & gay

Find the Value of your Berkey & Gay Furniture. WorthPoint is the largest resource online for identifying, researching and valuing antiques. Explore over Million “sold for” prices with item details and images. Berkey & Gay used a variety of marks, including branded, stencil, paper, or metal badges. How to Date Berkey and Gay Furniture: A Comprehensive Guide 1. Look for the Berkey and Gay Label The easiest way to date Berkey and Gay furniture is to look for a label or signature.

From the late 19th century to , Berkey and Gay used paper and foil labels to mark their pieces. In , they switched to branding their furniture using a. The Berkey & Gay Furniture Company Factory is a massive, five-story, flat-roofed, cream brick building. It is basically rectilinear, with two open interior courtyards. The plant consists of three sections.

The Berkey & Gay Furniture Company used three different types of labels to mark the furniture that they manufactured. The first label was branded into the wood and can often be found inside the drawers of the Berkey & Gay case pieces. Check out our berkey gay furniture selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our dressers & armoires shops.

Cabinet maker John Frohberg is credited with many of the carving designs. The scalloped design shown on these pieces was a trademark of their company. It is important to emphasize that MPFC was not tasked with refinishing the Berkey and Gay pieces, but preserving the original finish. On all pieces, the finish was treated using our own in-house shellac mixed with no additives. As infill it matched the historic finish; after it was waxed and rubbed to a warm patina.

Note: The China Cabinet, right, was in the best condition and served as a model for how the original finish might have appeared. The credenza was badly stained from decades of use: rings, deposits and losses were apparent on the serving surface, shown below. Heat impressions, standing water deposits and occasional caustic or staining liquids left their marks.

The overall finish was extremely dry, and appeared hazy to grayed. Berkey and Gay Dining Table with Leaves. When fully deployed with its ten original leaves installed it opened to an impressive feet. When the central decorative column was unlocked and the table pulled apart, sliding on its heavy recessed casters, it revealed another stout column which remained in place as a center supporting leg preventing sag in the leaves in any configuration.

The table was badly stained, displaying heat damage which looked like chemical burns, including moisture rings which gave way to areas with complete loss of varnish, below. These losses often had ring edges where pigments and grain fillers pooled and concentrated at the edges after migrating. The leaves finish was also compromised, shown right.

Disparate surface tones and colors presumably from use or lack thereof exhibited bleached and faded areas. The leaves also had rings and white spots. This material, especially around damaged areas, was peeling and flaking much like brittle film negatives. The entire table and leaves were treated, seeking a consistency of tone, one compound to the next, while maintaining its intended historic patinated appearance.

The nitrocellulose lacquer was removed using a heat gun and careful scraping with neoprene spatulas, without compromising the aged patina beneath, image two above. Selective infill was performed. Finally, the entire top was lightly sanded to raise the grain, and brush coated with multiple applications of our in-house shellac. After the varnish cured, the top was rubbed-out with powdered abrasives, then treated with a hard, unpigmented carnauba wax, above.

Side-by-side comparison of a chair before and after treatment.

The caning was ripped in several chairs; the chairs were re-caned, colored then varnished to match the original caning. Carved decorative elements of the various chairs were missing.

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These parts were recreated, applied, colored and varnished to match. Above, before and after shown on one of the arms chairs. Below, after images of the chairs around the table. The sideboard top was splitting and lifting, shown above. This piece had the worst stains, mostly from food and hot plates, and the overall finish was extremely damaged. The warpage and delaminating historic top, above, was repaired from beneath through the introduction of internal butterfly keylocks coupled with hardwood splines which bisected breaks and screwed into the superstructure.

The top was clamped and remained in stasis for several weeks, and came back into alignment, above right.