I think an equally important problem with making attributions is that we, on the whole, have long forgotten many fine makers from the Victorian era, probably numbering in the thousands – America alone, let alone globally. With an absence of labels, tags or stamps, we have nothing to remember them by except for old, buried newspaper articles of their factories closing or burning down.
There is no better example than this parlor set retailed and likely made by J. Ziegler & Co that was recently shared in the forum. “ThePeacockRoom” dug up a quote from Zeigler that “The firm offered “a large stock of plain and artistically rich furniture, all of their own manufacture...”. So, according to them, they did not resell the work of other cabinetmakers.
The set has a surviving label on the underside confirming it is from J. Zeigler’s “Furniture and Decorations Warehouse” in New York.
If you would have been tempted to put a Herter Brothers tag on it, there is a reason that it wouldn’t have been too far-fetched to do so. If you haven’t already read the whole forum thread, and to read about the connection between Herter Brothers and Zeigler, read the rest in the forum.
Also, see lot 110 in the upcoming Neal Auction sale this weekend for a comparable chair.
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Yeah, i remember this thread, very unusual parlor set in that it had it’s original upholstery. In looking at the similar chair at Neal with modern upholstery, it certainly looks different. As a “brown furniture” guy who knows next to nothing about fabric/ textiles, i was hoping someone would stumble into that thread that did. I have heard there are firms that can restore/reweave fabric but in doing a google search i didnt come up with anything.