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Rare Victorian Forum: Restoration Tips for Cleaning Compo
Tcandkk may be a newbie poster on the Rare Victorian board, but it's already obvious that she's not a newbie when it comes to buying Victorian furniture. She loves a deal and is prepared to put the work in to bring a les
George Hunzinger Lounge Chair
George Hunzinger furniture fans will probably be interested to see this chair design by him based on the 1869 brace patent. This is not a common form and I personally haven't seen one in the past. You can see the chair w
Neal Auction Summer Estates Auction
Neal Auction's next sale is coming up this weekend and it has it's share of worthy lots which I have provided a sampling of below. I have been so busy recently that I haven't had a chance to review the paper catalog that
John Jelliff Neo-Grec VSA Article
John Jelliff in The Victorian Times I recently "met" Roberta Mayer virtually through this site when she saw my posts on John Jelliff and the "Jenny Lind" carved arms. She made me aware of an article she had written on th
My Antiques Roadshow Experience Part II
I left off with my Antiques Roadshow experience in the last post at the paintings table. Both Chris and I had lugged our final appraisal items through this, our longest line - long enough that it was broken in two, which
Does “Victorian” Really Have Any Meaning?
Photo courtesy of Liveauctioneers Now that we’ve tackled the semantics of Empire vs. Late Classical, let’s take a crack at something larger – the word “Victorian.” Does “Victorian” really have any meaning?
Auction Results Round-Up June 20th Edition
In what will hopefully become a regular feature on Rare Victorian, I've invited Sue Mellish, who has been an antiques and collectibles writer for Antique Week in the past, to wrap up some of the recent Victorian auction
I'll Gladly Pay You Tuesday For A Hamburger Today
No sooner do I put up a post about J.W. Hamburger than woodwright points out the Great American Auction sale coming up tomorrow. I had previously reviewed the lots, but since I just did the post earlier this morning, one
John Jelliff Or J.W. Hamburger?
Compare this 1872 catalog image of a J.W. Hamburger sofa, model "King William Suit", to a 7-piece parlor suite currently for sale as a John Jelliff. The overall form is strikingly similar and a few decorative elements ar
Miniature Furniture Antiques
I enjoyed the video below of high quality antique miniature furniture produced by Antiques TV. These aren't your ordinary dollhouse furniture pieces - they are very well made and use high quality materials.
Rare Victorian Forum - An International Community
This week, a new poster took the forum by storm with some great information about a variety of subjects. Canadian Maple (CM) seems to have an endless supply of catalog and photographic reference material, which he's happ
George Hunzinger Sofa With "Opera Singer" Arms
George Hunzinger furniture hasn't graced the pages of Rare Victorian for a while, so I thought I'd alert Hunzinger fans to the sofa that is currently seeing very active bidding on Ebay. With 2 days to go, it has seen 20
"Empire" Furniture Isn't Always Empire Furniture
I interrupt this blog that occasionally masquerades as something scholarly and amounts to not much more than Victorian eye-candy and tabloid-style cabinetmaker worship to discuss the use of "Empire" to describe more than
Herter Brothers-Attributed Cabinet May Be Allen & Brother
I bid on a cabinet this week after I learned of a "Herter Brothers" cabinet coming up at a local auction. I immediately thought Allen & Brother when I saw the cabinet photos. I coincidentally ran into the "Gems of th
I Never Saw a Purple Cow: This Week's Forum Roundup
This past week, we had a huge brush fire burning just blocks from our home and it made me think long and hard about the contents of our house and what we'd be able to save if disaster struck. It was a frightening few hou
The Antiques Roadshow Experience
This past Saturday was the Antiques Roadshow event in Atlantic City, NJ and I invited a friend of mine whom I knew had some items that he had wanted appraised for quite some time. I requested a press pass so that I could
Tweeting Antiques Roadshow Today
For those of you who use Twitter, I'll be Tweeting the Antiques Roadshow experience today as it unfolds in Atlantic City. If you're not following me yet, you can do so here. If you're not a Roadshow fan, today is also th
Ancient Temple Carving Headed To Antiques Roadshow
I had mentioned that a friend of mine is headed to the Roadshow with me with a 200-pound ancient stone carving in hopes of getting a valuation and identification. You might wonder how someone in rural Ohio comes to posse
Herter Brothers Bookcase At Mark Vail Auction
Mark Vail's June 6 auction has a lot for sale that I will call "entry-level" Herter Brothers. From what I see this is a 100% authentic Herter Brothers bookcase. It's not one of Herters' high-style pieces as the design is
You Oughta Be in Pictures: This Week's Forum Roundup
If your ears were burning last Friday at 3:00, it's because I was talking about you. I was on the Warner Brothers tour in Burbank and where I got to visit the magnificent prop house. The tour guide said that the prop war
Antiques Roadshow Bound
You have to try everything once, right? I put myself on the list for the Antiques Roadshow tickets this year and was one of those selected to receive the free tickets. It's a lottery system, so there is never a guarantee
Gems of the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia 1876
I recently ran across the 1877 publication, "Gems of the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia", made available in its entirety below, from Google Books. It is a sort of greatest hits of the 1876 exhibition which was an
Michaan's Fine Art, Furniture and Decorative Arts Auction Friday, June 12, 2009
The June 12 event to be presented by Michaan’s Auctions of Alameda, CA, is sure to be a crowd pleaser. More than 260 lots of fine art, furniture and decorative art will cross the auction block this day. One of the nota
The Helen Of Troy Theory
(Continuation from Part I and Part II) I've been talking a lot about Jenny Lind lately and here's the impetus for my resurgent interest in solving the mystery of who the carved-arm females are meant to depict: The owner
Need Tips On Visiting Cape May, NJ
photo by wasabi_bob There is a reasonable chance that I will be visiting Cape May soon and am reaching out to the Rare Vic community to see if anyone has tips on which houses to visit and places to antique/se
The Curious Case of the Victorian Carved Bench
As I eluded to yesterday, there are a few changes happening at Rare Victorian - all for the good. I'd like to introduce Cynthia Boris who will be helping out with a Forum News post every week to summarize the interesting
Victorian Furniture Highlighted in Cowan’s June 6, 2009 Fine and Decorative Art Auction
Cowan’s is preparing for a solid auction of Fine and Decorative Art on June 6th, where they are emphasizing 19th-century furniture and other decorative arts. Along with elaborate newel post electroliers, a Tiffany lamp
Rare Victorian Antique Classifieds
There are some exciting new additions coming to Rare Victorian this week, so please be checking back over the coming days to see what is in store. I have been very busy behind the scenes and I still owe you a follow-up p
Auction Houses - Contact Me
If you work for an auction house that regularly features high-quality Victorian antiques and would like to be included on a list of auction sites that we monitor to report on for Rare Victorian readers, please use this f
Carved Bust Arms Not Jenny Lind
If you haven't read the first part of this series on proving/disproving the Jenny Lind association with the carved arms on Renaissance Revival furniture, you can read it here. This may take a few posts to get through, so
Jenny Lind She Ain't
I've longed referred to these female busts as "Jenny Lind" due to the prevalance of this belief in the marketlplace. People know which arms you are referring to when you describe them as Jenny Lind carvings. It has never
Rare Victorian Blog On Amazon Kindle
If you haven't heard of the Kindle, it is a wireless reading device manufactured by Amazon that seems to be gathering some wide adoption. The Kindle allows you to wirelessly buy, receive, and read books them from a devic
Modern Gothic or Eastlake/Aesthetic or Both?
Bob Courtney Auctions is selling this 3-piece bedroom set on Ebay at the moment and the sale will be ending today. The have listed it as an "Eastlake Aesthetic Movement" set and I've been mulling over this categorization
Twitter And The World Of Antiques
Since some of my regular visitors and blog subscribers own, operate, or work in the antiques business, I thought I'd take a momentary diversion to address the use of Twitter in the business of antiques. This will also be
Victorian Brass/Bronze Hardware
If you are a fan of Victorian brass & bronze door hardware, there is a recent post in the Victorian forum that has extensive images of ornate hardware collections from "stever". Steve has photos of hardware manufactu
J & JW Meeks "Stanton Hall" Chair
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 auc