In his research, he found many examples of two distinctive types of 19th-century Vermont furniture: chests painted with exaggerated graining that were made in Shaftsbury and other chests with the undulating bombe fronts produced in Norwich.

"I can see a nice floor cloth or a wooden chest painted with rangoli patterns."

There are touches of endearing modesty, like a Steinway upright piano designed by Tiffany and based on a Middle Eastern chest that seems to be inlaid with mother-of-pearl but is actually just ingeniously carved and painted.

"They were dusty, moldy and fading," said Ms. Wu, who saw chests painted with hunters and dragons in a background of golden mist, and promptly bought one for $300.

Instead of the bare chests and shoulders painted with Cypriot colors that were de rigueur in Melbourne, there were ponchos and umbrellas and the occasional wool cap.

Another embroidery was thrown across a large wooden chest painted with flying birds, and a three-legged chair with flowers stencilled on the back stood in one corner.

He bought an old chest, painted with flowers, because she loved to collect "stuff," and put it at the foot of her bed.

At the foot of the bed was a wooden chest, painted with flowers.

The chest, painted with exotic landscapes on a red and black tortoise-shell ground, was bought by Mr. Hays, who said he represented a New England collector who did not wish to be identified.

It was lung shot, the side of its chest painted with froth, and when it squealed the blood sprayed in a pink spout from the end of its trunk.