Rare Victorian Est. 2008 · The Curator's Archive
eBay Antiques No. 561

Herter Cabinet Spotted In 1964 Movie - My Fair Lady

Originally published

CabinetHerter BrothersAesthetic MovementWarner Bros.

Herter Cabinet Spotted In 1964 Movie - My Fair Lady
Herter Cabinet Spotted In 1964 Movie - My Fair Lady

Ulysses Dietz, curator at Newark Museum recently stopped by to give us a heads up on a Herter Brothers cabinet that a friend of his spotted in the 1964 Warner Brothers movie, My Fair Lady. I extracted a scene showing the library, above, and have provided the Bonham's sale image below. I believe that we can assume they are one and the same cabinet since my earlier posts chronicled the Warner Brothers sale of many Herter Brother's pieces earlier this year. Apparently, this cabinet did not sell due to notable damage. I wonder where it resides today?
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11 comments

  1. misslilybart
    It was re-offered at Bonham's 12/7 Furniture & Dec Arts sale, and again did not sell.
  2. Bart
    It doesn't look bad at all in the photo. I wonder what is wrong with it?
  3. Marc Andrew
    Heh, yes I recognized it from My Fair Lady the first time it was on this site, I agree with Bart, it looks good enough for me, and it has a name I might kill to own, so I wonder what the major problem is?
  4. misslilybart
    In the hi-res images, it appears that the front columns supporting the superstructure are missing from the molding down, and have been clumsily replaced. See http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff322/thepeacockroom/Lot-1304-yuk.jpg for a detail.
  5. John Werry
    Maybe there was a reserve that people weren't willing to exceed.
  6. james conrad
    Good point John, often an owner/consignor has unrealistic expectations of what they think a piece will bring and is passed at auction because the reserve is not met.
  7. Bart
    Yikes, you are right Misslilybart, those do look bad (I would still love to have it in my house).
  8. VictorianJunkie
    Anybody have any idea what the original column supports looked like?
  9. max
    None of the items from the first Bonham's sale sold, i.e.cabinet,dresser,center table and desk. Warner did not lower the reserves substantually enough from the first sale to make a difference. Who is going to pay 100k for that cabinet with the problems? Who is going to pay 85k for a dresser with problems by itself even if it may be one of the best dressers made? There also is speculation that the cabinet along with the desk that sold in January and the table that I bought with the copper and brass inlay may very well be P. & S. and not Herter. Meanwhile back to the prop room.
  10. Ulysses Dietz
    I have been struggling through "Saratoga Trunk," a really awful movie by Warner Brothers from 1946, starring really good people (Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman) being really badly directed...but I digress. The rosewood parlor etagere and the matching table from the Hopkins House (but not, alas, the secretary) as well as the bed and night stands from Thurlow Lodge, are all featured. I noticed with great interest that in 1946 at least the etagere cabinet still retained the carved colonnettes that coordinated with those on the secretary, and it still had the original beveled mirrors (those survived on the secretary). I also noted that the onyx top on the center table from the Hopkins house, now cracked in half (and being restored) was not yet damaged.
  11. mark pope
    I saw the piece in person in SF and have a copy of My Fair Lady DVD. It is also missing its gallery that was on the very top.

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