Innovative Horn Chairs by Wenzel Friedrich

This piece may not look Victorian, but you can't get more authentically Victorian than selling a piece to Queen Victoria herself! Wenzel Friedrich was a German immigrant residing in San Antonio Texas from 1853. He produced award-winning furniture from Longhorn cattle horns. He began creating this furniture in the 1880s and even produced pieces for the Queen, Kaiser Wilhelm I, and the President of France. The chairs were usually upholstered in American animal furs, though the one above attributed to Friedrich from Lise Bohm has faux fur. He produced them into the 1890s and the near extinction of the Longhorn put an end to production by around 1900. Back then you could have purchased a chair for $75 to $90 and today? $9,500 to $12,500 from Lise (site no longer available). I think I recently saw a set being auctioned for $125,000 or $150,000 on Ebay but I think that was a fluke. You can buy a complete 36-year collection of Alan Rogers for $308,000 on Ebay, including Wenzel Friedrich pieces.