Neal Auction’s upcoming sale will feature several pieces of George Hunzinger furniture, including the above sofa and a chair that would match it, were they to be upholstered in the same manner.  I expect there to be a wide range of prices on these items with the one above probably leading the hammer prices (Neal estimates $4-6,000) down to the more diminutive side chairs that he produced which may fetch around $1,000.  The rocker may also end up in that price range as well.

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If you remember this post a while back, I spotted this chair that looked out of place and ran a contest to see who could figure out what was different about it.  There were many responses in the comments section and many knew that it looked like a Merklen chair and that the brass elements were conspicuously missing.  The authentic antique chair can be seen in the image here.

Paul Tucker contacted me recently and let me know that Tom Webster was dead on right in knowing that this was a reproduction.  Not only are these chairs being sold “new in box”, but so are Merklen style tables (sold under the wrong name, Hunzinger) and Hunzinger lollipop chairs.

Thanks, Paul, for the heads up and Tom for the sharp eye.

On a separate note, if anyone is getting “banned IP” messages, I’m having a sporadic issue with security software that I use to keep out people trying to spam the site with fake comments.  If you continue to get it and are willing to work with me live on the phone to try and resolve it, please get in contact with me.  No, I’m not really banning any of you!

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I had previously mentioned that I’d be giving you a little more of a review on my latest book purchase, Victorian Detail, by Priscilla S. Meyer, so here goes.

Lise Bohm tipped me off to this book, as she occasionally does, and this time I hit some research paydirt immediately upon receiving it. I had been trying to identify a particular chair that repeatedly shows up at auctions and was finally able to point to Charles Klein as the maker due to this book.

The full official name of the book is Victorian Detail: A Working Dictionary. The latter part of the title is the important part. For those of us who didn’t major in Decorative Arts in college or haven’t worked at an auction house for 25 years, it’s good to find a Victorian-specific “Dictionary” that educates the reader on the decorative elements of furniture - specifically Victorian furniture. Yes, there are other furniture anatomy books but they are so broad in scope that they aren’t helpful. Although I’m interested in it, I don’t currently desire to learn about the finishing touches of a Chippendale highboy.

I’m going to detail the Table of Contents because I believe that it gives you a complete picture of the value of the book:

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