RARE AND IMPORTANT FOLTZ / WAGGONER FAMILY SHENANDOAH CO., SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VIRGINIA SULPHUR-INLAID WALNUT HANGING CUPBOARD, the dovetailed case having an applied triple-step molded cornice above a single raised-panel door attached with the original iron, face-mounted hinges, concealing a full-depth medial shelf with beaded front edge, and an unusual three-quarter depth upper shelf, above a single lip-molded wedged-dovetail drawer inlaid with "VLRG" and "WGR" flanking a likely original hand-wrought pull, a cut-out apron, and lower half-depth shelf having an applied front molding, flanked by boldly cut-out ends that are an extension of the case sides. Mostly walnut secondary wood with some yellow pine. The door knob was added later, the upper turnbuckle and the wrought-iron braces to the exterior and interior proper left joints of the door are 18th century, and possibly original. The front nail holes of the case are filled with the original beeswax. The drawer sides exhibit period red grease pen inscriptions, probably in German. Retains its outstanding dry, original surface with untouched patina. Circa 1770. 46" H, 34 1/4" W at the cornice, 31 1/4" W case, 13 1/2" D at the cornice, 12" D case.
Literature: See Beckerdite (ed.) - American Furniture 2015, p. 147, fig. 119, and p. 152, fig. 128 of Lisa Minardi's "Sulphur Inlay in Pennsylvania German Furniture: New Discoveries" for two examples of inlay using three initials to represent a longer surname, like the "WGN" seen on the Foltz/Waggoner cupboard and discussed below. 
Catalogue Note: The present hanging cupboard is among the most important pieces of documented colonial-period Shenandoah Valley furniture known. The extreme rarity of the form, combined with its remarkable documented provenance and untouched original condition, presents a unique opportunity to acquire an extraordinary, fresh-to-the-market object. 
Our research indicates that the "WGN" inlay on the drawer is for the original owner, Ulrich Waggoner (c. 1721-1801) or his daughter Betty Waggoner (possibly 1754/1760-aft. 1801). Ulrich was a Swiss emigrant who arrived in Philadelphia in 1750 and moved with his wife, Barbara Sterer (c. 1720-c. 1800), and daughter Betty to Shenandoah County, VA, in the 1760s. The cupboard was possibly made for Betty around 1770 and presented by her parents before her marriage to Joshua Voltz/Foltz Sr (1760-1833) in 1778, possibly in lieu of a traditional dower chest. Ulrich willed 105 1/2 acres of the "tract of land whereon I now live" to his grandson John Tisinger and "unto my daughter Betty for and during her natural life the remainder of my said tract of land whereon I now live, containing one hundred and sixty acres...and after her decease...unto my daughter Betty's son Joshua Foltz [Jr] and his heirs forever." Ulrich's farm bordered Joshua's grandfather Peter Foltz's farm. Ulrich left his personal property to his four daughters in equal shares. It has not been determined if the present cupboard was part of Ulrich's estate, which Betty inherited, or if the cupboard had been gifted to her when she came of age before her marriage to Joshua. We do know that the cupboard descended through six generations of the Foltz family until it was discovered in 1995 by Benny Long in the attic of the family's circa 1798 homestead.
The drawer's other inlaid initials, "VLRG," are likely for the Latin motto Verbum Lutheri Reformabit Germanos, which translates to "The Word of Luther will reform the Germans." The Waggoner and Foltz families were staunch German Reformed Lutherans, and with Ulrich being a first-generation immigrant, this phrase would have held great significance for him and his family.

In outstanding original condition with no damage or repairs.

From the collection of Benny Long, New Market, VA.
Acquired with the contents of the Foltz family homeplace's attic, Headquarters, Shenandoah Co., VA, in 1995.