Thomas Chippendale Chippendale brought out the first edition of the "Director". Rannie and his bookkeeper, Thomas Haig, probably looked after the finances of the business. His wife, Catherine, died in 1772. After James Rannie died in 1766, Thomas Haig seems to have borrowed £2,000 from Rannie's widow, which he used to become Chippendale's partner. One of Rannie's executors, Henry Ferguson, became a third partner and so the business became Chippendale, Haig and Co. Thomas Chippendale (Junior) took over the business in 1776 allowing his father to retire. He moved to what was then called Lob's Fields (now known as Derry Street) in
Badminton cabinet Badminton cabinet The Badminton cabinet is a monumental piece of 18th-century furniture that twice set the record for most expensive piece of furniture ever sold. The Badminton Cabinet, or Badminton Chest, was commissioned in 1726 by Henry Somerset, 3rd Duke of Beaufort, at the age of 19. It took thirty experts six years to make, and came to be named after the Duke's country seat, Badminton House in Gloucestershire, England, where it remained until it was auctioned by his descendants in the late 20th century. The ebony cabinet is tall and wide and shows scenes rendered in pietra dura—inlaid finely