BUCKBOARD PHAETON
Natural color varnished body. Trimmed in tan cord, black leather top.
This buckboard was made by Joubert & White of Glens Falls, New York and was used by Dr. Webb in this community for many years.
The natural varnished body was a deceptively simple vehicle finish. In the Coachmaker’s Illustrated Handbook, published in 1875, the chapter on painting pointed out the hazards of the clear varnish finish: “The varnish can crawl, run, enamel, pit, blotch, sag down and hang on the lower edge; smoke or cloud over; appear as though dust had been dredged on it through a piece of fine mull, or gather up and hang in heavy ridges or beads along the center part of the spokes and other carriage parts. These irregularities will happen with the best quality of varnish and with workmen of undoubted skill, and are caused by atmospheric influences alone.” The English varnish was preferred by carriage painters, for they believed it possessed a secret ingredient which made it the finest available at that time.
Gift of the Webb family in memory of Dr. and Mrs. W. Seward Webb
