You will occasionally run across the phrase “In the manner of” within a furniture listing to denote a case where the seller is leaning (oftentimes strongly) against attributing a piece to a particular maker. Elements of the piece or the entire form bears a resemblance to the style of that maker but is missing a smoking gun to attribute it outright to that maker.

The listing for the chair above doesn’t use this phrase, though it uses “Hunzinger look” to serve the same purpose. The chair does have some elements that bear a resemblance to George Hunzinger’s parlor furniture, which you can compare it to in the pictures below. I wouldn’t completely rule it out as being by him, but there are some elements seen in his parlor furniture that are absent on this piece.

Take note of the chair below, which is also currently up for sale with a current bid of $1,650 and is a patented, stamped Hunzinger. The top chair doesn’t include the front brace that you see in many of his chairs and sofas. The lower back bolster is also missing.

Lisa Bohm also has the following 3-piece parlor set up for sale on her site. This is another of George Hunzinger’s parlor set forms.

I’m back from Key West and I had an eventful week including a good share of Victorian sightseeing while I was there. It’s good to be back and I’m ready to get back into the Rare Victorian and digging into the minutiae of fine Victorian Furniture. I have to do a bit of work for the day job today even though I’m on vacation for another week, but I wanted to send out a quick note about Rare Victorian being profiled in the Hall Of Fame for Collector’s Weekly.

Collector’s Weekly is an all-encompassing collector’s site covering pretty much any category of collecting that you could imagine. Rare Victorian has been recently profiled in their Hall of Fame. I hope that over time (the site appears to be relatively new) they will expand their content to include informative articles (as the “Weekly” name implies). Right now the content is a bit light and is comprised mostly quick blurbs, reference links, profiles of other sites, and Ebay Affiliate links. I know full well how it takes time to develop a site to it’s full potential. Rare Victorian is only a fraction of what I’d like it to be today, but these things take time. Thanks again to Collector’s Weekly for inclusion in the Hall of Fame.

We have not yet had a chance to host a family Christmas at “Pennyscroft” since the family rotation has taken us to Florida each of the past two Christmases that we’ve had since buying the home. Chrismas can be quite grand at an old home and we hope to be able to host it in the next few years.

One of the side benefits of buying an old house is that it is highly likely that the gardens and surrounding trees have been there for many eons. In the case of of our property, we have dozens of monstrous trees – sugar maples and what I will refer to as Christmas trees. When we receive some snow, it produces quite a beautiful panorama as the 70-100 foot trees become tinged with white. The scene puts our 9 foot artificial tree inside the house to shame. In the summer when the fireflies are out in full-force, this tree below actually appears to be a lighted Christmas tree as hundreds of fireflies fly around it.

Out the front of the property, which slopes down dramatically, is a popular sledding hill that gives the riders a 500-foot slope on which you can pick up some dramatic speed (I’m reminded of the speed each Monday when I wheel the garbage container down the driveway – it takes me down the hill).

As your sled barrels down the slope, you need to make sure you put the brakes on before you inadvertently cross the road. Fortunately an old split post fence is there as a last-ditch, albeit potentially painful, safety measure.

Lizzie, our Portuguese Water Dog, was born in December, so her first life experiences included excitedly following a dozen or so other Porties into the breeder’s snowy yard. She is a big fan of snow and uses it as her endless snowcone that she licks during her trips out in the back yard.

We will be without Pennyscroft scenes and Lizzie this Christmas as we venture to Key West to join up with my entire immediate family. We have never been there and are looking forward to some R&R in warmer climes.

Not knowing what the full gamut of architecture is down there (”is there any Victorian?”), I did some perusing in Google images and was pleased to find a few Victorian home images, including one of Hemingways home. I’m afraid that I may not want to return if I find that I can have year-round warm weather, water (boating, fishing), and houses to buy where my furniture would look right at home. And I’m a telecommuter, so this could be dangerous.

If you don’t see activity on the home page of Rare Victorian for a week, you’ll know why. I’m either out chartering a fishing boat with the family, dining at a waterside restaurant … or househunting for Key West Victorians.

I wish all the Rare Victorian readers and their families a very happy holidays.

It’s funny to watch the faces of friends and coworkers as they take a tour of our house for the first time. When they learn that it was me and not my wife that selected all of the Victorian antiques that we own, you can see the wheels turning in their head for a few seconds before they rejoin the conversation. One of my close friends remarked as she walked through the house, “John, if I didn’t know you were straight…”. Good thing I don’t mention that I cook and garden, too.

The implication is that men are supposed to be golfing, watching football, and drinking beer and not ruminating on where the epergne should go. I know where they are coming from. As the image above demonstrates, there is something incongruous between exhibiting proper levels of testosterone and doing so while sitting in a Meeks Rococo sofa.

After years of extensive research, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are ways to maintain your manliness and simultaneously collect Victorian antiques. I’ve put together the Manly Man’s Guide to Buying Victorian Furniture to share what I have learned:

1. No Rococo. I know you buy Rococo because you are an admirer of laminated furniture techniques, but you need to resist the Belters and Meeks.



2. Buy lots of R.J. Horner. Seek out furniture with carved griffins and half-nude female figures. Avoid the man of the mountain pieces.



3. Sphinxes and mythical beasts are winners, so Allen and Brother pieces will also work.



4. Avoid the tête-à-tête



5. Ebonized furniture is generally a good choice due to the black color. Be wary of overly floriated Aesthetic pieces.



6. Merklen pieces are good choices due to the spiral design, brass, and ball and claw feet.



7. Hunzinger is tricky and requires an advanced eye. Avoid fringe elements, pieces of diminutive stature, and rockers.

Hopefully this guide will aid all the men out there who, like myself, enjoy collecting Victorian antique furniture. Now, I’m off to Ebay to sell some Rococo …

I’m sure everyone has a favorite piece in their antique collection and picking out just one to be “the favorite” is like picking your favorite child, but for me it’s a relatively easy choice… and I don’t have children.

Mine is a Renaissance Revival “Plantation Desk” that I purchased at a local auction, somewhat in disrepair. The desk panel would get stuck and one of the doors was no longer attached; a victim of damage and makeshift repairs. Best I can tell from my records, I picked it up for $475. The repair to the door hardware was beyond my immediate skills or time so I sent it to a neighborhood repair shop and it was cleaned and fixed soon thereafter.

This desk greets me every morning as I head to the kitchen for coffee, is there every time I walk up and down the stairs, and every time I leave or enter the house.

It serves many purposes in our household on a daily basis: holding pens, pencils, scratch paper, Cat 5 cables, phone books, restaurant menus, screwdrivers, picture hanging hardware, packing tape, and a cigar humidor. It gets used every day like a workhorse and it is 130 years old, yet I bet that it has never looked better.

It’s original finish has an amazing reddish glow that is so rich it warms my heart to see it. What I believe to be the original key sits perpetually in one of it’s two locks. The inevitable scratches and scars acquired over a century of use, though minimal, seem to endear you even more to it. It looks and feels like that perfect pair of slippers that you break in and then slip into every day.

Sure, I have other pieces made by more notable makers and worth much more money but most of them lack the warmth or rigidity for incorporation into daily life. It seems to me that my favorite piece is the one that has most become a part of our life.

Jason Flatt recently posted pictures of a child’s armoire in the forum that was purchased in 1876 by the original owners of his house. The great-grandson of that prior owner recently gifted it to him and his wife after their first child was born. I think I know which piece is Jason’s favorite.

Which piece from your collection is yours?