MARLBOROUGH, MASS. — It was predicted to be the top seller in Skinner’s two-day sale of American furniture and decorative arts on November 2-3, and it was. Selling for $291,000 to a phone bidder, the Chippendale carved mahogany reverse serpentine bureau had been in the collection of Alvin C. Detwiler of Washington, DC in 1932 and had been included in a publication by Israel Sack. A 1964 letter from Sack to then owner Mrs Stanley G. Welsh, reads in part, “everyone who has seen the piece, including [legendary antiquarians] Morris Schwartz, Charlie Lyons and Willoughby Farr say this is the finest chest of its type they have seen.” The chest had been estimated at $50/100,000. The price quoted includes buyer’s premium as specified by the auction house. Watch these pages for an upcoming extensive post-sale review.