Historic Baby Doe Tabor Elaborately Carved Bedroom Set Original Finish Victorian Walnut Suite with Provenance Start Price USD 122,500.00 Current Price USD 122,500.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Wednesday, July 16, 2008 End Time Saturday, July 26, 2008 Location Platteville, CO See more about 'Historic Baby Doe Tabor Elaborately Carved Bedroom Set' Description Increase Sales by 18% and double your hits - Vendio Gallery Please note that there are about 35 pictures being donwloaded on this listing.  Patience will yield a lot of detailed images of this unbelievable bedroom set - workmanship which rivals the artistry of John Henry Belter, Joseph Meeks, and other famouse American Victorian cabinetmakers.   This museum-quality bedroom set not only reflects the finest in aesthetic movement decorative arts, but is also a most cherished historic relic reflecting the opulent lifestyle of the rich and famous – Colorado’s silver baron Senator Tabor and his wife Baby Doe, and later the wealthy William Randolph Hearst and finally the celebrated author Patte Barham.   This ornate two-piece bedroom suite furnished the spacious home of Baby Doe (Elizabeth McCourt of Oshkosh, Wisconsin) and Horace Tabor (Leadville, Colorado silver king) located at 1260 Sherman Street in the Capital Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, and is pictured in an 1886 newspaper account which describes the prestigious Tabor residence.  It is believed that Horace Tabor commissioned this bedroom suite to be made shortly before his marriage.  Attributed to Daniel Pabst (1826-1910), a leading German cabinetmaker in Philadelphia, the bedroom set carries important historic Colorado and California provenance.    Made primarily of walnut, this bedroom set has beautifully carved flowers and foliage, intricately carved birds, mysterious bats, insects, and other animals.  The massive headboard of the bed has a rich central burled walnut panel, and the footboard hides several secret compartments.  The ornate crest of the bed has a light wood owl at the center of deeply carved flowers, vines, and singing birds with whimsical bats flanking either side.  The sides of the headboard have smaller birds amid a flowering trellis.  The flowering trellises of birds and flowers are characteristic of the Japonnaise style – a design style that highlighted the Aesthetic movement of the late 19th century and was popularized by the Philadelphia Exposition of 1886.  It was a style that celebrated art.    The dresser’s voluptuous crest has a light wood fox at the center of deeply carved foliage, flowers and birds.  Whimsical birds flank the crest.  The side panels, like the headboard, have flowering trellises and singing birds.  Behind carved doors are numerous drawers including jewelry boxes.  Beneath the heavy marble tops is a slide-out desk or vanity top.  The back of this dresser is 115” tall – taller than the 104” headboard.    The bed can tell you stories of the Tabor family, attest to a life at William Randolph Hearst’s castle at San Simeon, California, and tell you stories of Dr. Frank Barham, Heart’s principal publisher, and his daughter Patte – a protégé of William Randolph Hearst, an author and celebrity in her own right.    This elaborately carved Victorian masterpiece was acquired by William Randolph Hearst from Baby Doe Tabor sometime after the death of her husband, Senator H.A.W. Tabor in 1899 and for thirty years it graced the Hearst Castle on Hearst’s San Simeone estate.   Later Doctor Frank F. Barham received this suite from William Randolph Hearst as a gift for his Pacific Palisades rancho.  Dr. Barham founded the Los Angeles Herald, Herald Examiner, and Herald Express newspapers in Los Angeles, and later sold these papers to Hearst and became one of his chief publishers.  During the next twenty years he became Heart’s principal publisher and managed most of his California operation as a vice president of the company.  Dr. Barham was also involved with Hearst’s real estate ventures and owned six hundred forty acres adjacent to San Simeon (Heart’s Castle) and extensive holdings in Cahuenga Pass, now called Barham Pass.    Dr. Barham’s only daughter, Patte Barham, whose mother was the socially prominent Princess Jessica Meskhi-Glebhoff, inherited the bedroom suit from her father after his death.  A protégé of the powerful newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, she was hired as a reporter and columnist.  In addition to being the first female war correspondent assigned to cover the Korean conflict as the personal representative of Mr. Heart, she was an accomplished author.  Her works include “Rasputin: The Man Behind the Myth,” “Peasant to Palace: Rasputin’s Cookbook,” and she co-authored with Peter Brown the celebrated work “Marilyn: The Last Take.”   As a youngster, she was a frequent guest at the San Simeone estate and Hearst Castle.  It was here that she was mentored by Marion Davies who introduced her to the “Hollywood scene.”  The bedroom furnished her home on the ninth tee of the Wilshire Country Club in Hancock Park, the former home of the Lankershim Van Nuys Scheppe family, and later was moved to her home in Hancock Park, Los Angeles – the former residence of the Catholic Cardinal Paul McIntyre.   Bedroom suite is available for viewing at the Platteville Historical Society Museum in Platteville, Colorado.  Please email us for an appointment.   Bedroom set retains its original finish.  Bed dimensions:  65" wide; 83" deep; 104" tall.   Dresser dimensions:  62" wide; 27" deep; 114" high. Buyer pays all shipping, crating, handling costs F.O.B. Platteville, Colorado.    Place a Bid!