This Walnut pedestal, which I will attribute to Kilian Brothers due to the multi-colored incising paint and similarity in form to other Kilian pedestals, is up for bidding until October 21st. Measurements are 40″ high, the top is 20″ x 12 1/2″, and 17 1/2″ square at base. Bidding starts at $300 with expected range of $600 to $1,200. There is a piece of wood loss at the base, but if you put it against the wall, no one will see it .

For the first time at RareVictorian.com you can get something for free!

I find myself in possession of two copies of the Newark Museum Bulletin, “Century of Revivals: Nineteenth-Century American Furniture in the Newark Museum” and I’ve decided to give the spare copy away to reward the faithful Rare Victorian readers (or a fortunate passerby).

About the book: This is a very rare publication. I cannot find any for sale at any price on the web at this moment. I purchased one of my copies for $40 but it could be worth more now due to the current scarcity.

This 63-page book, prepared by Ulysses Dietz, Curator of Decorative Arts, documents in black-and-white photographs some of the key 19th Century pieces in the collection of the museum. This is a nice book to have in your reference library, especially for John Jelliff fans. Included in the book are pictures of pieces by:

• Albert Bonnell
• David Alling
• Michael Allison
• A.E. Noe
• John Jelliff (including pictures of lesser-known Jelliff items such as parlor tables, an Elizabethan Reception chair, a dresser, and Gothic Revival hall chair)
• Alexander Roux
• J. and J.W. Meeks
• John Henry Belter
• Mitchell and Rammelsberg
• Kingman and Murphy (a labeled table by them very commonly mis-attributed to Thomas Brooks)
• Collinon Brothers
• Gardner & Co.
• George Hunzinger
• George Hess
• Kirk and Jacobus
• Cooper Chair Factory
• Meier and Hagen
• Leon Marcotte
• Many more…

If you maintain a Victorian Furniture reference library, this is a great addition.

Here are the terms to participate (both are required):
- You need to be a subscriber to the Rare Victorian blog updates via email. You can sign up here.
- You need to be a member of the Rare Victorian Community Forum. You can become a member here.

I will randomly select a winner on November 30th at 5:00 PM Eastern by combining the email addresses from the two lists above. If you appear in both lists at that time, you will be part of the eligible pool for the drawing.

It only takes about 30 seconds to join both, so use the links above to become eligible.

Good luck!

Stevens Auction is getting set for an auction on November 3rd that includes many items that Rare Victorian followers would be interested in considering. I ran across this desk (lot 1302) attributed to Pottier and Stymus and noticed some similarities between this desk’s form and the Herter Brothers desk that BJ Laughlin of B and D Furniture with Generation Next Antiques discovered. You can review the post that I did on his desk here. As you recall, his desk was 99% identical to the Herter Brothers desk in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, which you can see online here.

The bottom half of these desks look similar in many ways: the area around the key escutcheon with the handlebar moustache carving detail; both have inlaid front panels; both have smooth sloping side panels that terminate in a rounded bull nose with circular side carvings. There are many differences, starting with the cabinet top, legs, and stretcher configuration, but the overall form is intriguingly similar, with the lock area being the one that grabs my eye.

For some reason the Allen and Brother pieces are coming out of the woodwork after not seeing any for months. Lewis & Maese Auction Company is bringing this cabinet up for sale on October 24th and have it marked as a Herter Brothers cabinet. I’m not an expert on Allen and Brother by any means but I have the Magazine Antiques issue from 1996 that featured this maker and the cover photo has the identical inlaid decorative front.

I know that you can’t rely on inlay work in isolation to identify a maker’s work (they were easy to buy and identical designs would show up across makers), but this cabinet has other hallmarks of Allen and Brother. The dimensions of this cabinet are within an inch, simultaneously in all three measurements, of the cabinet featured on the cover. The overall form is the same. The feet have the same funnel shape. The two columns in front project out from the cabinet on two extended areas of the base. I believe it to be more likely Allen and Brother than Herter.

No condition report is available on the listing but in looking at the marble, I don’t believe it to be original. Bidding starts at $2,000 and range is $3,000 to $4,000, which would be a bargain for this maker if my attribution is correct.

Including buyers premium, the aforementioned Besarel mirror fetched $156,000 ($130k hammer price) when it closed yesterday. During the same auction, the Allen and Brother pieces I have posted about brought mixed results. The sofa brought a disappointing $17,500 hammer price (expected $20k plus) and the credenza brought a healthy $48,000 hammer price. Even though that is below the $50-$75,000 expected range, I think $48,000 is a handsome result. I think the sofa would have done much better with an elegantly executed reupholstering job as the existing upholstery looked old and cheaply done.