Holy Moly.  Now I know why people who aren’t fans of Victorian antique furniture look at pieces from the period and condemn it’s over-the-topness.  Technically this piece is probably very late Victorian Renaissance Revival style.

This sofa is part of a set that Fontaine’s will be selling on the 18th and it is a Victorian-hater’s nightmare.  I love RJ Horner items, whose carved furniture this resembles, but even I would not be able to put this one in my home.  It is so overwrought it even has two-tier tables integrated on either side of the sofa.  No need to buy end tables - they’re included!

The set is probably incredible to see in person and it will make quite a statement in a fine home somewhere.

Expected sale range is $15,000 to $25,000.  More detail images at the listing.

So how do you like the set?

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Grand View will have a little of everything Victorian in this upcoming sale on Saturday.  The bed above will be up for sale and they are attributing it to Alexander Roux.  I would be happy to pay within the expected range of $4,000 to $6,000 for a bed of this quality were it to actually sell in that vicinity.

There will be plenty of Rococo, Renaissance Revival, Eastlake and even a bit of the Aesthetic Movement.  A few top names will be attributed to items in this sale - Belter, Pottier & Stymus, Kimbel & Cabus, and Roux.

If you are interested in R.J. Horner items, I enumerated those that will be sold over at the Horner blog here.

This bedstead on Ebay will be sold by the time some of you read this but I thought I’d mention it due to the quality of the piece.  It is a Renaissance Revival bed with 101″ height and 75″ length and not quite Queen width at 57 1/2″ mattress width.

You can find it’s twin on page 74 of Styles of American Furniture 1860-1960, though unfortunately there is no maker information provided.  One item of interest is that the book states that the bed is made of Rosewood, while this seller is advertising theirs as Walnut.  There’s a chance one or the other has misidentified the composition, or possibly the maker provided an array of wood options.

If you are one of the 5 competing bidders, I think you can’t go wrong with this bed as a quality piece, but one should be aware of the condition problems and work that will need to be done.  The photos are numerous, but lack proper lighting and size to expose all the needed fixes.  The description does not inventory the detail of all of the flaws, “SOME OF THE MOULDING AND GINGERBREAD IS MISSING”, so one has to study the images carefully.

It’s always humorous to see a seller get huffy Continue Reading »

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