Mary SMITH

• Birth: ABT 19 DEC 1741, Weymouth,,MA,USA

1. William CRANCH

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Notes

A chest passed down from mother to daughter for more than 200 years turned out to be a very, very valuable famly heirloom when it fetched $1.45 million at auction.

The high chest is believed to be a gift from John Adams, the nation's second president, to his sister-in-law, Mary Cranch, in gratitude for looking after his house while he and his wife were staying in England. Adams bought two of the chests in 1788 and gave the other to his wife.

A pair of sisters, who asked not to be identified, said they learned by accident how valuable the chest was when one of them attended a museum lecture on early American furniture.

"We would have up and sold it for $100," said one of the sisters, who lives in McMinnville.

In fact, the Oregon woman didn't have room for it at her house, so she had shipped it to her sister, who lives in another state, insuring it for only $35.

In addition to its famous heritage, the chest turned out to be a rare example of an early American furniture style called "japanning." During the 17th and 18th centuries, lacquered furniture imported from China and Japan became so popular that American craftsmen began imitating the work, according to experts at the Sotheby's auction ouse in New York.

The high chests made in Boston during the early 18th century are not only rare, they are some of the most interesting works ever produced by American craftsmen, Soptheby's catalog declared in its description of the chest.

The auction houose said it is only the sixth chest in the William and Mary style still known to exist. The other five long have been on display in museums.

But the Oregon woman's chest, which she inherited from her parents, may be the best preserved of them all, still retaining many of the delicate colors used in the lacquer work.

The sisters originally tried to give the chest away, to the White House, the State Department and the J. Paul Getty Museum but they all refused it. Eventually, they agreed to auction it off.

The antique, which Sotheby's valued at $700,000 to $900,000, was bought by the Chipstone Foundation, which operates a private museum in Wisconsin.

"I said, 'I'm in shock,' I kept saying, 'I can't believe it. I can't believe we own something that valuable,'" the Oregon woman said. "It's just like manna from heaven."

The sisters have established living trusts that will let them live off the interest from the sale and give the principal to charity upon their deaths.

From the Oregonian, 26 November, 1999