The Antique Victorian Furniture Blog

If you haven’t heard about the auction called American Furniture & Decorative Arts offered by Bonhams & Butterfields, which took place in New York City on January 22, you’ll want to take a look at the articles I’ve attached here.

There were over 300 lots at the auction, and total sales topped $2.3 million. Standing-room crowds gathered in particular to watch the auctioning of the Warner Brothers Studios collection of 15 pieces of furniture by the famed Victorian cabinetmakers Herter Brothers.

The prize lot was a Herter Bros bed — parcel-gilt, carved, inlaid, ebonized, and “considered by many scholars to be the finest American bedstead known to exist in the fully developed American Renaissance style.” It was originally commissioned as part of a bedroom suite for the master bedroom at Thurlow Lodge, home of former California Governor Milton Slocum Latham in Menlo Park, CA.

The final price of the bed was $326,000, purchased by collectors Max and Judy Foote of Louisiana, who also came away with a mirrored dresser ($103,700), a rare shaving stand ($61,000) and a pair of night stands ($23,180) from the same suite. The Footes already have in their collection a Herter Bros antique Victorian bed that appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho.

Many of the pieces at the auction, and not just those by Herter Bros, brought in sums far exceeding top estimates. Quite a few others failed to attract any interest at all.

There’s a lot to read about, and you’ll want to see the photos of the bed, the dresser with its massive mirror and other pieces.

I have two links here for you to follow. This one is to the article at Bonhams’ website and this one is to an article at Antiques And The Arts Online.

My thanks to Ben Mijuskovic (see my posts on Oct. 23 and Nov. 20) for bringing this to my attention. He tells me that the price on the Herter Bros bed is a record or near-record for any piece of Victorian furniture.

Technorati Tags: American, american renaissance, Antique, Antiques, art, Auction, Bed, bedroom suite, bedstead, cabintmakers, Collectors, decorative arts, Dresser, Furniture, Herter Bros, Mirror, night stands, shaving stand, Victorian

A recent article in the Nashville Business Journal describes how the Lotz House, located in Franklin, TN, is becoming a participating destination with Heritage Travel, Inc.

What’s the news here, you ask?

Well, The Magazine Antiques states that the Lotz House, built circa 1855, contains the finest private collection of American Victorian furniture in the Southeast. That’s a comment to contemplate for a second or two. What do you think is in there?

Also, starting this spring, Heritage Travel “will provide extensive online visibility for historic destinations, including the Lotz House.” And they appear to provide attractive incentives for traveling with them.

An informative little article in the NBJ, isn’t it? We’re going to get to see some photos of this celebrated collection of American Victorian furniture online. And perhaps get a nice travel package if we want to see it up close.

Click here to read the article.

I’m going to keep an eye out for that online visibility and find out what kind of deals they’re offering for the visit.

Technorati Tags: American, Antiques, collection, Furniture, Lotz House, Online, photos, Victorian

I came across this article in the Maine Antique Digest, written by antique collector Ben Mijuskovic. The article deals with the spread of Victorian furniture in America in the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution.

Those who were amassing great fortunes were seeking to establish themselves both through connections to their European heritage and through expressions of individuality. To this end they lavishly furnished their homes according to their own aesthetic.

The Victorian era in America was unfortunately followed by a period of decline, in which Victorian homes with their ornate interiors and furniture were left to decay. But starting around the mid-20th century, as Ben reports, there was a resurged interest and appreciation in the period and an enormous amount of scholarly work has since been produced on it.

I found Ben’s distinction between the curator, the hunter-dealer, and the narcissistic collector of antique Victorian furniture to be especially intriguing.

The article shifts to a description of how Ben and his wife found a Victorian chair, with the head of Shakespeare carved in wood at the top. It includes excellent photographs of the chair, taken from a variety of angles. You can read the article here.

Technorati Tags: American, Antique, Chair, Furniture, Victorian