Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1905 — MAHOGANY WOOD. [ARTICLE]

MAHOGANY WOOD.

Hie Way It Chine t<» Be I'ned In the Milking-of Furniture. Chippendale owes his reputation to the l act 11 >a t he ;o■! •i i -in-0 a b< >■ ik -vs designs . with ' over 200 copperplate engravings, so that today-any oite who wishes may get them and reproduce them exactly or with such changes and improvements as suit his fancy. That they are capable of improvement Chippendale himself was the first todeclare. Chippendale was one of the first makers of mahogany furniture. Before his time this precious wood was valued only for the medicinal qualities it was supposed to possess. The idea of making furniture of mahogiwiy. wood appears to. have, been ...the result of chance. A certain physician in London had a great many mahogany planks, and. wanting a candle box, he sent for a cabinetmaker ami instructed him t i use the mahogany for the required article of furniture. Tlie man objected -tlmt the wood was too hard for his t ics. and tiie ductor told him to get .harder tools. The man .-did so,, and. wli<m the doctor saw the box he was amm:<-d. at its beauty*.. Patients and friends talked about it, and at last the Duchess of Buckingham came to see it. She was enraptured and persuaded the doctor to give her wood for a similar box. As a result fnaliogauy got to be the fashion.