Posts tagged as:

Bembe and Kimbel

1857-Era House of Representatives Bookcase

April 19, 2009

As members of the Rare Victorian forum and of subscribers to Rare Victorian Special Finds have known for a number of days, this somewhat simple bookcase may be a pretty rare find.  Thanks to a tip from Jason/1881Victorian in the forum, we were alerted to a bookcase that has carved shields that greatly resemble [...]

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1857 Bembe & Kimbel U.S. House of Representatives Chair

August 14, 2008

Rare Victorian is please to offer for sale this original 1857 U.S. House of Representatives chair bearing the original stencil of it’s maker, Bembe & Kimbel.  It is identical in style to the chair that Abraham Lincoln favored as his photo chair and the design is depicted in the recently completed Thaddeus Stevens monument.  Only [...]

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Neal Auction to Sell Another 1857 House of Representatives Chair

July 10, 2008

If you followed the drama of Kathie’s chair identification here on Rare Victorian (Part I, II, III, and related posts IV, and V), you might be interested to know that Neal Auction is selling another of these original 1857 House of Representatives chairs.  Half of the chairs were manufactured by Hammitt Desk Co. of Philadelphia [...]

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Bembe & Kimbel Chair In Thaddeus Stevens Bronze Monument

July 1, 2008

If you followed the recent posts on Kathie’s Bembe & Kimbel chair, you might be interested to see the chair as part of a recent bronze monument of Thaddeus Stevens created by George Mummert.

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Kathie’s Bembe and Kimbel Stencil

June 24, 2008

Above is an image of Kathie’s Bembe and Kimbel signature. The wood is indeed dry and the markings are worn, but it seems to be of the 928 Broadway variation. Hard to say from just this image, but that is my guess. Below is one from a Neal Auction chair.

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A Real Rare Victorian Mystery – Part III

June 22, 2008

Make sure you’ve read Part I and Part II before proceeding
The Two Makers Theory
On Friday, I was coming to a conclusion different than where I am today – that a strong possibility existed that Kathie’s chair was made by the Hammitt Desk, Co. who produced 131 of the chairs.
An excerpt from “The History of the [...]

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A Real Rare Victorian Mystery – Part II

June 20, 2008

Where we left off yesterday in Part I of this story was that I was noticing some differences between Kathie’s chair and those that had previously sold at auction. The most prominent difference for me were the shield carvings. Kathie’s chair on top didn’t seem to have as deep a carving profile. [...]

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