Stumped!
I have a research challenge that has exhausted my paltry research skills.
I am looking for information about the Charak Furniture Company of Boston, MA. I have one of their pieces, a revolving bookcase, that was sent to me by my grandmother. I’d like to get an idea of its value in order to find out if I need a special insurance rider for it. However, there’s not a lot of information out there on the company itself, and although its pieces pop up pretty regularly in auction catalogs, I can’t find any mention that they ever made revolving bookcases, despite the label on mine.
So far, I have discovered that Charak was based in Boston, and considered a very fine furniture- and cabinetmaker. They appear to have been in business from the late 1920s until the 50s or 60s. They were originally known for traditional styles and colonial reproductions, but ultimately ended up making a midcentury modern line of furniture. Many pieces are numbered, and all of them appear to have been handmade with very nice woods, like mahogany and maple. The postwar pieces are allegedly hard to come by; the item I have is dated 1949. They were competitors with Kaplan Furniture of Cambridge, MA (”Beacon Hill Collection”) and the Old Colony Furniture Co. of Boston, MA and, later Nashua, NH. One of their prominent designers was Tommi Parzinger.
This item looks quite similar to mine, but the inlay pattern is different, and mine has a leather top.
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