If you came across a Gustav Stickley bookcase in the 1960s, you were more likely in an attic or even a barn than in a living room. Furniture of the American Arts and Crafts movement was extremely popular in its heyday, between about 1900 and 1915, but then it fell into near-complete obscurity for over half a century. So as Leigh and I were growing up and becoming avid auction-goers in the 1960s and 1970s in upstate New York--Stickley's old stamping grounds--Arts and Crafts work was mostly an afterthought. BY 1988, though, when Barbra Streisand paid $363,000 for Stickley's own sideboard, collectors had rediscovered the style, and so had contemporary craftsmen and the general public.

Stickley's stark, straight-lined style was shared by the majority of Arts and Crafts furniture makers. Such furniture is often called Mission, in reference to the modest furniture of California missions. Although most Stickley pieces were factory made, hand-craftsmanship was suggested by the use of hammered-metal hardware. Oak boards were often quartersawn to display the wood's signature ray-fleck figure.

Some of the best, and most collectible, work in this vein came from Gustav Stickley himself; also from Charles Limbert, who borrowed design ideas from Europeans to produce striking variations. Other highly collectible furniture includes that from Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft; from Gustav's brothers L.&J.G. Stickley; from Charles Rohlfs, whose custom linearity with sinuous lines reminiscent of Art Nouveau; and from Frank Lloyd Wright. In California, Charles and Henry Greene designed pieces that blended solidity with Orientally inspired curves and a sensuous use of mahogany, ebony, silver and leather.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR
The most prominent makers marked their furniture with labels, decals, or burned-in or carved logos. Labeled pieces bring higher prices. As with other antiques, prices also jump when a piece has its original finish, hardware, and upholstery.

Prices for Arts and Crafts furniture vary widely. According to our friend Greg Kuharic, a Manhattan-based expert in 20th-century decorative arts, unlabeled pieces might sell at flea markets for less than $250, while the rarest pieces by the best manufacturers can bring hundreds of thousands at auction. The majority of pieces, including those with labels and original finish, sell in the $1,000 to $20,000 range. To simplify the hunt, there are books, price guides, and reprints of many original manufacturers' catalogs.

If you prefer new pieces, there is also a vigorous trade these days in reproductions of Arts and Crafts furniture and in designs using the Arts and Crafts vocabulary.