A Fine and Rare Queen Anne Red-Painted Dressing Table, possibly by Captain Samuel Shipman (1725-1801), Lyme-Saybrook, Connecticut, circa 1755

Sarah F. Manwaring (1835-1910) m. Peres Austin (1832-1886), Old Lyme, Connecticut;

to their son William Nelson Austin (b. 1856) m. Susan Ellen Chapman (b.1854), Old Lyme, Connecticut;

to their daughter May Austin (1878-1966) m. Clarence Clark (1885-1968), Old Lyme, Connecticut;

gifted to Charlotte May Bump Czystowski (1896-1971);

inherited by her husband, William H. Czystowski (1893-1982) and her daughter, Thelma Mehitable Czystowski (1929-1995), Lyme, New London, Connecticut;

Nathan Liverant & Son, Colchester, Connecticut;

Samuel Herrup, Sheffield, Connecticut at the Connecticut Spring Antiques Show, 1984.

Nathan Liverant & Son advertisement, Magazine Antiques, (January 1984), p. 54;

Laura Beech, "The Liverants of Colchester", Antiques and the Arts Weekly, July 12, 1991, p. 1, 66-9;

Laura Beech, "Zeke Liverant Remembered With Love And Laughter at CHS," Antiques and the Arts Weekly, March 16, 2001, p. 76;

Leslie and Peter Warwick, Love At First Sight: Discovering Stories About Folk Art & Antiques Collected by Two Generations & Three Families, (New Jersey: 2022), pp. 136-7, fig. 268.

This dressing table is the protagonist of one of Zeke Liverant’s favorite stories. He first saw it in the Old Lyme, Connecticut home of Mrs. May Austin Clark. It was in pristine condition and Zeke quickly became enamored with it. He visited Ms. Clark often but she simply refused to sell it. Rather, to his surprise, upon her death he was told that she left it in her will to her housekeeper, a Mrs. Charlotte Czystowski. Never one to give up, Zeke began to visit Charlotte and her family. He told how it was a three-ring circus, as they all spoke at the same time, and they often insisted that he wait to see a peculiar one-legged gull drop a clam on a rock to open it in their backyard (which he saw only once). It was ‘missionary work’, as Zeke called it.

For nearly 25 years, he would visit with Mrs. Czystowski and try to convince her to sell the dressing table. When Mrs. Czystowski died Zeke said 'Great, now I can buy the lowboy'. However, when Zeke and his son Arthur visited her daughter, Thelma, she relayed 'Oh, I couldn't possibly sell mother's lowboy, which belonged to Mrs. Clark.' Zeke's doggedness kept him yearning for the piece.

One fateful day, several years later, while visiting the Czystowski family, he noticed a rusted 1948 blue Studebaker truck for sale in their front yard. Zeke had an idea. He said to Mr. Czystowski, 'I'll buy your truck if you'll sell me the lowboy.' Mr. Czystowski said 'SOLD!' immediately. Zeke and Arthur quickly loaded the dressing table in the back of the truck and drove away as fast as possible before he changed his mind. After over 40 years, Zeke had finally captured the elusive piece.