Speaking of upholstery … Joan Bogart recently shared with me a settee in her possession that originally belonged to Tom Thumb.  Discovered at the age of 5 by distant relative P.T. Barnum, Charles Sherwood Stratton was a dwarf who became one of Barnum’s most famous and lucrative human curiosities.   Barnum immediately concocted a story of the 5-year old being 11 years of age and having been brought from Europe “at great expense”, though none of that was true.

The settee was owned by Tom Thumb and I assume by association, his similarly statured wife, Livinia.  It retains it’s original silk and velvet damask.  Dimensions are 52″ wide at the widest point, 34 1/2″ tall, & approx 30″ from the rear foot to the front toe.  The settee has family documentation to confirm it’s provenance.

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Victorian-Era Furniture has gained a bad rap over the past 100 years for it’s “garishness” and I think that there is no potential end to that reputation, and thus, it’s lack of mainstream appeal.  I think there is one thing we can do, however, to improve on that and it lies in the upholstery. Nothing makes an already ornate sofa stand out and smack you in the face than a FUSCHIA color or scarlet red or any of many other colors that belong in a Hawaiian sunset.

Obviously, upholstery is a matter of personal taste and needs to match the overall decor of the room, but showing restraint in color and texture with upholstery choice can accentuate the beauty and craftsmanship of the furniture and not turn it into a caricature.

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I recently ran across this four-piece set of John Henry Belter Rosalie chairs online and asked the owner if I could post the image here. What struck me about this set is that the crests are gold-gilt.
I have never run across this treatment on Belter furniture and so my initial reaction is that it was added later on in the chairs’ life and not originally put on there by Belter’s shop.  The owner has indicated that he has seen it in a reference book in the past and he’s trying to dig it up for me.

I’ll put the question out to you – have you seen this before or heard of original gilding on Belter furniture?

I’ve been asked to compile a top 10 list of Antiques-oriented blog for Blogs.com and I’d like to solicit feedback from the Rare Victorian community.  If you have some favorite antiques blogs that you follow, please pass them onto me at via the contact page.  I will share the list once it is compiled and available at Blogs.com.

Tcandkk may be a newbie poster on the Rare Victorian board, but it’s already obvious that she’s not a newbie when it comes to buying Victorian furniture.  She loves a deal and is prepared to put the work in to bring a less than perfect piece back to its original glory.

One of her new (old) pieces is a sideboard with a raised carving on the front panel of each door. They’re in desperate need of a good cleaning so she came to the boards looking for advice on how to get it done. Woodwright thought they might be made of composition, which would make them very susceptible to damage from strong strippers and water-based products.

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