Dec 17 2007

Manly Man’s Guide to Buying Victorian Antiques

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 …

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2 Responses to “Manly Man’s Guide to Buying Victorian Antiques”

1. # 1881 Victorianon 18 Dec 2007 at 1:55 am

   John,

   This is Jason Flatt’s wife here. He has shared your page with me many times and I’ve enjoyed it as well. I feel compelled to respond to your posting (hilarious by the way) about gender and Victorian antiques. On one level, I can “up” your humor by saying that I’m a big sports fan. (Jason could take it or leave it.) In our parlor are a bunch of baseball memorabilia pieces. When guests first arrive, they see all of the wonderful Victorian pieces Jason has found for us, and they see some baseballs. Let me say there have been several male guests who have tried to bond with Jason over their “shared love of baseball” who were then disappointed–and no longer interested in talking about baseball–once they found out it was I and not he who loved sports.

   I’m usually able to laugh off such events. After all, I’ve had a lifetime of learning to deal with them. On the other hand, as a teacher who fights to allow men and women to live to their fullest without being bound by stereotypes, I can’t help but also feel frustrated with such types. If they could only open their minds a bit further they might find they’d enjoying chatting baseball with me. More importantly, they might find–as I have–that they could learn a lot from Jason about Victoriana, and they might even like it. So I’m glad there’s the internet so we can spread our nets a bit further and find people with whom we can chat. Let them pause when they enter our houses, let them wonder about who we are, and perhaps someday they’ll open their minds just that centimeter more and not be quite as surprised!

   Cool use of the word ruminating, by the way. As an English prof, I revel in such random use of beautiful language.

   And if my e-mail seems disjointed, blame not my education or degrees. I’m watching the Vikings-Bears game and am slightly distracted.

   All the best–

   Jennifer Flatt

   Current score: 0
2. # John Won 20 Dec 2007 at 10:43 pm

   Jennifer, thanks for commenting. I was watching the same game when your post came through (Go Vikes).

   I think women sports fans probably have it worse than us male Victorian fans. Not sure.

   That was a fun post to do and I think I have ideas for a future reprise at some point. Manly Man Take 2.

   Current score: 0

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