Cellerette

[Larry Rose]

After two or three months of fits and starts I finally finished this piece. It's a Cellerette from PWW a few issues ago. I wanted to build it because the original is in Hope an old plantation house 15 miles or so from here and I've seen it several times. It's walnut with maple inlay and beading and the finish is just shellac and a coat of wax.

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[nn4jw]

Simply beautiful. Great job!

 

[Charlie]

Beautiful. The walnut has nice grain and the maple inlay really sets it off. Great work.

 

[KenOfCary]

I like the dovetailed sides of the upper box. Are they hand cut? Guess I need to look up Cellerette in wikipedia. Have no idea what one is, but now I know what it looks like.

 

[Trent Mason]

Beautiful work, Larry.

 

[FlyingRon]

Cool, can you show a picture of the inside?

 

[Bill Clemmons]

As always, Larry, your work is exceptional. This is a beautiful piece.

 

[McRabbet]

A beautiful piece, Larry -- The finish really celebrates the Walnut and Maple very well and your dovetails are spot on! Did you put some partitions inside to fit some traditional decanters?

 

[Chris C]

Ironic. I was actually reading that issue of PWW on my phone in court today. I was kinda thinking about making one for myself.

Looks awesome.

 

[Charlie Buchanan]

Very nice work! I've always liked the shape of cellarettes and yours is particularly attractive.

 

[Hmerkle]

Absolutely gorgeous Larry!

I agree with Ron though - I will be over to have a look at it (inside especially!)

 

[Larry Rose]

Thanks every body. Yes the dovetails are hand cut. A cellerette was used in the 17th-18th centuries to store anything one didn't want the help getting into such as gin, sugar, tea etc. Since nobody uses real cork these days' I'm storing wine in it as it doesn't matter that they aren't laying down. I guess it pays to buy cheap wine.

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[red]

Beautiful piece and nicely done.

Red

 

[Jeff]

What a neat idea!

One similar to Larry's is shown in pic #5 from the Roanoke River Basin dating back to 1790-1800. Check out the selling price!

http://soodiebeasley.blogspot.com/2008/11/celebrating-cellarette.html

 

[FlyingRon]

The cellarette was used to temporarily hold wine bottles brought up from the cellar in preparation of them being used to served. Commonly they were lined with metal to keep the bottles cool especially in the south.

As for standing up wine bottles, you actually WANT to stand them up for a while before serving. This allows any sediment to move to the bottom of the bottle. This makes pouring or decanting much easier. As for long term storage, the advantages of laying the bottle down these days, even with natural course, is arguable. If your cellar has respectable humidity, the cork shouldn't deteriorate and the presence of pretty good capsules these days (or wax or lead capsules in the old days) also obviates the need. You only really need to worry about this if you're keeping the bottle stored for years.

As mentioned, alternative closures (synthetic corks, glass stoppers, and screw caps) don't care what position you store them in.

 

[Hmerkle]

The cellarette was used to temporarily hold wine bottles brought up from the cellar in preparation of them being used to served. Commonly they were lined with metal to keep the bottles cool especially in the south.

As for standing up wine bottles, you actually WANT to stand them up for a while before serving. This allows any sediment to move to the bottom of the bottle. This makes pouring or decanting much easier. As for long term storage, the advantages of laying the bottle down these days, even with natural course, is arguable. If your cellar has respectable humidity, the cork shouldn't deteriorate and the presence of pretty good capsules these days (or wax or lead capsules in the old days) also obviates the need. You only really need to worry about this if you're keeping the bottle stored for years.

As mentioned, alternative closures (synthetic corks, glass stoppers, and screw caps) don't care what position you store them in.

"screw caps"!? did you really go there???

 

[Jeff]

I became intrigued by the history behind Larry's reproduction from the Hope Plantation in Bertie county, NC so I started sleuthing around.

This cellarette is based on a piece originally constructed in Bertie County, N.C., in the last quarter of the 18th century. It is part of a group of cellarettes built by Micajah Wilkes – as published in 2009 in Thomas Newburn and James Melchor’s “WH Cabinetmaker – A Southern Mystery Solved” (Legacy Ink Publishing).

So I found...

1. Cabinetmaker William Seay in Bertie county. He built lots of furniture for a gent, Whitmel Hill, and labeled the pieces with "WH".

2. Micajah Wilkes (1765-1841) married Annie Seay, the sister of Wm. Seay. Micajah is our man.

Look familiar?

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/7201034

 

[FlyingRon]

There are some original pieces in some of the mansions in Natchez as well. Natchez was THE richest city in the US prior to the war of northern aggression.

Once you get past the s######ing Steve Martin "Would monsieur wish to smell the bottle cap," screw caps have a lot of following in the wine industry (especially Australia). The primary detractors are cork bigots. I've got some cult wines that the winemaker produced the identical wine in both stelvin (a proprietary wine screwcap) and cork. They're aging side by side in my cellar, we'll see in a few years if anybody can detect a difference.

 

[Larry Rose]

I became intrigued by the history behind Larry's reproduction from the Hope Plantation in Bertie county, NC so I started sleuthing around.

This cellarette is based on a piece originally constructed in Bertie County, N.C., in the last quarter of the 18th century. It is part of a group of cellarettes built by Micajah Wilkes – as published in 2009 in Thomas Newburn and James Melchor’s “WH Cabinetmaker – A Southern Mystery Solved” (Legacy Ink Publishing).

So I found...

1. Cabinetmaker William Seay in Bertie county. He built lots of furniture for a gent, Whitmel Hill, and labeled the pieces with "WH".

2. Micajah Wilkes (1765-1841) married Annie Seay, the sister of Wm. Seay. Micajah is our man.

Look familiar?

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/7201034

Jeff, that is a very good book for anyone interested in reproduction furniture. BTW Tom Newbern lives in Ahoskie and Edenton and is a retired judge.

 

[LeftyTom]

Simply mah-velous, Larry.