This is a late 19th century spiral turned chair but there are at least two things about this chair that are out of the ordinary  for this particular form by this particular maker.

I’m heading out for the weekend, but will leave you all with this puzzler.

For the person who first leaves a comment on this post (don’t email me) detailing the maker and also details the most aspects of this chair that are unusual, I will send you a Victorian Style book as the victor.

I may not be able to post all your comments until I return, but they will be stored in order received.

Have fun

I don’t run across many Cheval mirrors that I would like to own save for a few nice Renaissance Revival and Merklen-style spiral-carved varieties, but this one with Gothic details caught my eye. This one is large - 7′ x 4′ and 2′ deep. The seller is characterizing it as Aesthetic Movement with Gothic carved crest, but in my mind there is more Gothic than just the crest and I’m not sure what is Aesthetic about it (gilt incising?). There are trefoils and crockets in the feet, incised Gothic arches in the stand arms. The feet themselves are arched in a flying buttress form and there are pointed arch finials at the bottom trim area.

The support stand incorporates Elizabethan style hollow and solid spiral-carvings that would rival any Merklen Brothers work, though is dissimilar to their style.

Elizabethan and Gothic resurged in Europe in the 1890s, so it is possible that this explains this combined design and suggests a timeframe and place for it’s manufacture.

More at the listing.

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A Belter sofa for $1.00? That is what it is currently bid up to with no reserve price. This Belter furniture pattern is sometimes referred to as “Simple” or “Scroll” due to the smooth simplicity of the carvings. We often see Belter’s over-the-top work and his simple pieces often go unnoticed without much fanfare. The reality is, these sofas in today’s market have a hard time making it to $1,200, which is around what I paid for mine a while back. This Rosewood sofa sports the Belter lamination process and you can see the resemblance to his Rosalie pattern, shown here with a rarer laminated Rosewood back.

If you’re a fan of Belter but haven’t yet worked up the budget for a $28,000 Henry Clay pattern, then here’s your placeholder. For me it was a cost-effective way to add to my Belter collection as well as have another piece to provide a first-hand view of his impressive laminations.

If you’re new to the site or are unfamiliar with John Henry Belter, start here with his Bio and shopping page, and then you can go through all the back posts here to see the full array of his work.

Click on the image above to go to the listing for the sofa currently up for sale.

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