Currently at $202.50 and originally described as a chair made by Belter, this Meeks Stanton Hall chair is seeing some early bidding due to the low starting price and no reserve.

These chairs will hit $800 to $1500 at auction and probaly 2x that in a retail scenario.  Shipping is $175 flat-rate to the States and it is located in Saint-Hubert, Quebec.

If interested, do check the images of the back of the chair closely.  Something seems to be going on there, but I can’t tell for sure with the small size of the photos and lack of detail.  I’d ask the seller for more detailed photos.

More details at the listing.

Stevens Auction will be having a sale this weekend which will include antique Victorian Furniture from a variety of makers and periods and the convenient thing about the sale is that you don’t need to bring a truck or trailer to take your purchases home.  Just be the high-bidder on the 36-foot RV that they are auctioning off and you are good to go.

Items to be sold include furniture attributed to John Henry Belter, J & JW Meeks, Pottier & Stymus and more.

Continue Reading »

I received a note from Joan Bogart about the table that was profiled in a few previous posts. It was documented in the book, “The Furniture of John Henry Belter and the Rococo Revival” on page 83.

Joan feels that the table is not by Belter.  In scrutinizing the photo caption, it seems certain that the intent was to suggest that it was likely made by Belter: “this simple piece was used with a bed by Belter in a home furnished from the Belter shop“.

Joan has had several of these tables in mahogany and one Rosewood over the years and does not sell them as Belter.  Most importantly, by her recollection she has had one labeled “Fanning”.

So for those of you who own the “Belter book“, you may want to put  a little asterisk on page 83.

Thanks, Joan, for passing on your experiences and thoughts on this table.

Sometimes in the Victorian era of furniture making, you can see the confluence of two styles in one piece simultaneously as you can see with this sidechair to the right. Both Gothic Revival (spires, arches, crockets) and Rococo Revival (serpentine & foliate seat, cabriole legs) are represented at the same time.

This Rosewood chair design pops up fairly regularly at auction and is often attributed to J & JW Meeks, though I’m unaware of any watertight attributions on this chair based on documentation.  It is represented in the wonderful book, “The Gothic Revival Style in America, 1830-1870″ by Katherine Howe and David Warren for the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.  I don’t recall where I’ve seen this chair in reference material otherwise, but if someone does, please let me know.

UPDATE: This chair was likely made by Klauder & Deginter.  Thanks to “curtywurty’ who left the comment with the information and “misslilybart” who found this document online. Continue Reading »

Are there any independent film producers out there?  I have  a new movie title for you to produce, “Stubby Finds a Home”.  Probably more of a Disney flick than a Tom Cruise action flick.

The new owner of the cut-down Rococo table that I profiled on Rare Victorian while it was up for sale wrote to share a picture of the table’s new home.

Charles had to say this about the table:

The church-basement-piano-color finish is gone, Stubby has a fresh coating of shellac, and he’s settled down to a life of domestic bliss.

So Stubby is all cleaned up and has a new abode with Rococo and Ren Revi friends.  Note the Belter book on top of Stubby.

I DO feel better that although Stubby is cut-down, he has not found himself in a landfill somewhere.  Maybe some day he can get some prosthetic legs.  Thanks, Charles, for the update.