1.   Consummate cabinetmakers, they produced desks and chests of drawers that are now regarded as masterpieces of American furniture.

2.   American oak furniture is sturdy and robust and stands up to life, even after a century of being taken for granted.

3.   American furniture, silver, prints, folk art and decorative arts.

4.   As antique American furniture gained wider appreciation, much of it was sold by dealers to wealthy clients in Manhattan.

5.   At the turn of the century, American furniture in the Arts and Crafts style was dismissed as a fad by critics.

6.   At this level, the Appleton secretary has already become the second most expensive piece of American furniture ever sold.

7.   Garden design, flower arrangement and early American furniture are other themes.

8.   Harold Sack, the dean of American furniture dealers, has mixed feelings about the sale in a depressed market.

9.   He was one of three American dealers selling American furniture.

10.   Herbert Schiffer, a dealer in American furniture in Westchester, Pa., recalls a period when the great collectors competed for these pieces.