Jones! The Marqueterie Man

This was the most successful marquetarian in America during the first quarter of the 20th-Century. His real name was George Henry Jones and he was born in 1865 to European immigrants in New York City. Little is known about his early life, but it is thought that as a young man he worked in the marquetry and inlay trade. In 1893 he opened his own workshop from one that had already existed since the 1840s. By 1895 he was already moving into larger quarters. It was about this time that he learned the advantages of self-promotion and began calling himself 'Jones! The Marquetry Man.' He often advertised in furniture trade journals saying "Estimates and Designs Furnished".

In that year, Furniture Trade Review said: "George H. Jones has many machines of the latest pattern... With his improved machinery, new appliances and large force of men he can now handle the largest orders for marqueterie from any part of the country... His immense shop is by far the best of its kind..." The next year Furniture World reported that Jones had "the largest marqueterie shop in the country..." In the workshop, Jones was as much a designer as a craftman. He used natural wood along with dyed veneers of various tints acheived with acid baths and dyes prepared by himself. Other materials that he was known to employ were pewter, copper and exotic woods.

In 1905, American Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer listed the exotic woods stored on Jones's premises as thinya, amboyna, violet, amaranth, sandal, pearwood, holly, boxwood, applewood, satinwood, prima vera, figured maple, plumwood all "bizarre in marking, delicious in perfume and magnificent in color-the collection of a lifetime." Examples of his marquetry are rare, but do exist in the Harvey Ellis and LaMont Warner designed inlayed furniture (1903-1906) of Gustav Stickley. These designs were floral in nature with an expression of refinement. The amount of marquetry purchased by Stickley ran into the thousands of dollars and continued to about 1912. George Henry Jones attained a great amount of wealth and remains unrecognized today because he was known mostly by the furniture trade as a sub-contractor of marqueterie. He died in New York City in 1927.