Thomas Elfe Thomas Elfe Elfe was born in 1719 in London, England. He was an accomplished and prolific furniture and cabinet craftsman of the American colonial period. Elfe, a contemporary of Thomas Chippendale, was considered Charleston's best furniture craftsman of the eighteenth century. His working career spanned almost thirty years from about 1746 to 1775. At one point in his career his personal worth was a fortune of over 6,200 English pounds. Local Charleston historian and one time director of the Charleston Museum, E. Milby Burton (1889–1977), attributed Elfe as the craftsman of some of the finest nationally acclaimed furniture produced. Burton's
Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide also available, for about one thousand times the price of the new book. The complete text with the plates is available for download in various formats from or . Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide is a famous antiquarian book, reference book, and non-fiction work. Many cabinetmakers and furniture designers still use it as a ready reference for making period furniture or designs inspired by the late 18th century era. Historians of domestic life or the History of Technology use it for establishing context for their research. Finally, collectors are willing to pay a good sum for