: Robert Francis Fileti, one of the nation's leading conservators
and authenticators of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century
furniture, died of cancer at home on Sunday, March 14. He was 53
years old. He remained active in his field up until the day he
died, going to the January Americana sales and on Saturday, March
13, traveling with Leigh Keno of Leigh Keno American Antiques,
New York City, to Pook & Pook in Downingtown, Penn., to look
at an important Philadelphia Chippendale tall-case clock. He
spent his last active hours doing something he loved to do:
getting out his light, taking things apart, looking closely at
joinery, finish and other details, and checking the reference
books. The clock turned out to be a good one. Sensing his time
had run out, Fileti said a few goodbyes that evening.
"Bob was one of the best conservators in the field. He had an
incredible eye and incredible passion," said longtime friend and
business associate Keno. "He was one of the most honest and
honorable men I have known. He was respected by his peers," said
Keno, who noted the great number of curators, restorers,
upholsterers and others in the trade who paid their respects at
the March 16 wake. A funeral mass took place at Immaculate
Conception, North Fullerton Avenue, Montclair, N.J., on
Wednesday, March 17.
Born in Orange, N.J., to Robert and Christine Morrissey Fileti,
Robert Francis Fileti lived most of his life in Ridgewood and the
last 20 years in Glen Ridge. He was a Navy veteran of the Vietnam
War. Fileti coached soccer for many years at the Glen Ridge
Athletic Association.
Robert Fileti started out making furniture under the tutelage of
Douglas Campbell of Newport, R.I., and Denmark, Maine. During
this apprenticeship, he strove to make each piece representative
of the best historical standard. Fileti was a superb craftsman,
using time-honored techniques and tools for furniture making and
restoration that were appropriate for the piece.
In 1977, he opened Robert Fileti Antique Furniture Reproductions,
which he ran until 1984. Fileti then joined the staff at Israel
Sack Inc as the manager of antique conservation and restoration,
something he did for more than ten years. Some of the finest
pieces of American furniture came under his care.
Albert Sack, son of Israel Sack, said, "The thing that stands out
to me is his integrity and his passion and thirst for knowledge
and for Americana. He constantly studied to perfect his art. He
loved to give and teach. We had a great relationship. He handled
some of the great pieces that we owned; in particular he worked
as conservator on the Nicholas Brown Secretary, a $12 million
secretary." That secretary is in a private collection.
Sack continued, "He was very conservative. He wanted to preserve
integrity so he went out of his way to see that things were
properly conserved and not overdone and not made like new. He was
dedicated to conservation and the furthering of our knowledge
always. He was a great conservator, always improving his methods.
He was in a class by himself. It is a great loss to the field."
"With the passing of Bob Fileti, a valued professional in the
growing field of conservator/consultant has departed our realm.
Bob's intense dedication, his meticulous skill and knowledge, and
wonderfully sensitive, caring nature will be missed by the many
friends and colleagues whose lives he touched," stated Wendy A.
Cooper, Lois F. and Henry S. McNeil Senior Curator of Furniture,
Winterthur Museum.
Furniture restorer and consultant Robert Lionetti, Griswold,
Conn., said, "I can't say enough about Bob. He was a warm kind
person who was highly respected in the trade. The irony of his
personality was that he had this soft-spoken humble façade, yet
underneath he was one of the most knowledgeable people in the
field. He had extremely high standards regarding authenticity,
integrity and proper restoration practices. If he had an opinion
or view on something you would know it. That was the interesting
thing about him. He was very generous with his knowledge and
always hungry to look and continue to learn. I think the trade
lost a lot more than a great restorer or consultant. In my
opinion it lost one of the finest people to have ever been in
this game. He was a good friend and I'll miss him."
In 1995, Fileti became an independent conservator and consultant.
He was in demand as an authenticator and conservator for dealers,
auction houses and some of the leading collectors of American
furniture. Fileti also participated in vetting American furniture
at the Winterthur Antiques Show in recent years. He advised
museum curators and many collectors on acquisitions, helping
build some of the finest collections of American furniture in the
country.
Collector Burn Oberwager of Philadelphia remembers Fileti as "a
man of great integrity, judgment and fairness. There was highboy
at auction in New York about two years ago. Bob liked it a lot
and I wanted to have it. He took a look at it but he couldn't
remove the rosettes from the top of it to determine if they were
original. We knew that the finials had been replaced but we
couldn't tell about the rosettes. In the antiques circle we sort
of concluded that they were original. After I bought it and he
had it back at his shop he removed those rosettes and decided
that they had been replaced. And he was so upset that he made the
most stunning flame finials to replace the rather weak
reproductions. He insisted that he just give them to me. He felt
he should have known and insisted that I not pay him for his
work. Of course I did. Imagine a guy in this day and age who
wouldn't want to be paid for that work."
Collectors could sleep well at night if Fileti had authenticated
their furniture. "When he went into consulting he inspired a lot
of collectors," said Albert Sack. "They used him for
authenticating and judging things. He was a scholar as well as a
conservator. He was always studying the work of the masters of
the Eighteenth Century and learning their techniques and all so
that he could better judge the pieces. It is very, very rare to
see the integrity that he followed. Thank God we weren't fakers
because if something needed restoration, and he put a new part in
there he wouldn't distress it to blend in with the old because he
couldn't stand doing anything that imitated the old. The thing
that stood out to me about him is that you get a craftsman as
good and capable as he was and they are interested in
craftsmanship, they are not interested in studying the philosophy
of the art and the theories."
Fileti hated fakes. When he went on a 1997 excursion with Leigh
Keno to a Tacoma, Wash., auction to inspect a promising blocked,
shell-carved Newport kneehole desk with a Townsend label, he
helped prevent an industry debacle. If authentic, the desk might
have fetched between $3 million and $5 million. Fileti was quoted
in this paper, "In real simple terms, we could have gotten back
on the plane in 30 seconds if the plane was just outside. Anyone
could have built a better kneehole desk than this. The
dovetailing was really crude. The underside was an abomination of
stuck-on pine glue blocks and everything else. Nothing gave you
an inkling that this was remotely close." The auctioneer
subsequently removed the questionable lot from the sale and
called the consignor to task by dramatically wheeling it out at
the sale with a can of gasoline on top of it.
Oberwager remembers Fileti's excellent eye and memory for
antiques. "About two and a half years ago I bought a chair at
Pook & Pook and after he brought it back to his shop and
examined it he said 'You know Burn, I recall a similar chair - an
identical chair - that sold at auction at Christie's two or three
years ago.' So we went back to the catalogs and sure enough it
was very, very similar. So we approached Christie's and asked if
the person who bought that chair would be interested in selling
it. To make a long story short we reunited those two chairs and
they are definitely out of the same set. Instead of having one
chair we now have a pair. It was just this infallible memory he
had for antiques. Once he saw a piece he just didn't forget it.
He would pore over the catalogs, go back and was able to find
comparables. He was a true scholar."
Oberwager also valued Fileti's sense of humor. "Even when I was
outbid for something and was incredibly disappointed he would
come up with something to make us laugh. He was always such a
positive guy, looking at the next opportunity."
Students at New York University have benefited from Fileti's
expertise. For the last five years he was an adjunct professor at
NYU, lecturing on antique furniture construction at NYU's program
in antiques and appraisal, inspiring the next generation of
furniture conservators and appraisers.
He is survived by his wife of 23 years, Donna Lifson, MD, son
Michael and daughter Laura Fileti. He was a brother of William of
Michigan, Christine Aderhold of Ridgewood, Thomas of California,
Marybeth Luptowski of Georgia and Alison Milus of New York. He is
also survived by 16 nieces and nephews and two great-nephews.
The Robert Francis Fileti Endowment at Winterthur will be
established with private gifts to benefit the annual Winterthur
Furniture Forum. "Fileti wished to have his dedication to
American furniture remembered with some type of educational
program, and he loved Winterthur," said Leigh Keno, who is
helping to establish the endowment. Those wishing to contribute
to the endowment may call 302-888-3017, or send their gift to The
Robert Francis Fileti Endowment, c/o Winterthur, Winterthur DE
19735, attention Kathy Mori.
