The Antique Victorian Furniture Blog

On Saturday, October 24, Stair Galleries of New York will host an auction of the Hunt Slonem collection contained in Edgewood Terrace, also known as Cordts Mansion, “an imposing Second Empire-style brick mansion that stands at the top of a hill overlooking the city of Kingston in New York’s sprawling Hudson Valley.” Previews run from October 9 to October 24.

I’ve attached the press release and photos here for you, so there’s not much need for me to elaborate. Suffice it to say that this is going to be one magnificent auction. Here’s some more from the press release to entice you:

“After restoring his country retreat to its original Victorian grandeur, Mr. Slonem filled the rooms with an eclectic combination of 19th-century furniture and decorations, modern art and his own exotic, vibrantly colored, neo-expressionist paintings… The sale will feature an extensive selection of 19th-century furniture, decorative arts and fine arts as well as a number of 20th-century paintings, prints and photographs.

According to Mr. Slonem, ‘The collection represents nine years of gathering.’ The impressive array of 19th-century furnishings, spanning the years from 1830 to 1900 and encompassing all the major styles of the Victorian era, is heavily focused on the Gothic Revival. Throughout the house are chairs, center tables, dressing bureaux, secretaries, gilt-bronze mantel clocks, glass vases, porcelain teawares and ironstone toilet sets embellished with tracery, pointed arches, steep gables, pinnacles and cusping. Balancing the medieval-inspired pieces are furniture and decorations in other revival styles including Rococo, Renaissance, Louis XVI and Neo-Grec. Modern works of art, hung on brightly painted walls inspired by the colors in Mr. Slonem’s paintings, serve as a foil to the Victorian furnishings.”

Wow.

Click here to read the full press release.

Click here for the catalogue. You have to see this.

For information, contact Walter G. Ritchie, Jr. of Stair Galleries at 518-751-100 or walter.ritchie@stairgalleries.com. Visit Stair Galleries’ website at http://www.stairgalleries.com/.

Technorati Tags: 19th Century, Antiques, Chairs, clocks, decorative arts, Furniture, gothic revival, Hunt Slonem, louis xvi, modern art, neo-grec, paintings, Renaissance, Rococo, second empire, secretaries, Stair Galleries, tables, Victorian

The New York Times has just run an article on shopping for antiques in Atlanta, GA and surrounding areas. The article gives a lot of information on a large number of antiquing destinations. It also gives some suggestions for restaurants and hotels if you decide that a trip to the area is worth your while.

In Buckhead, a trendy neighborhood close to downtown, look for Bennett Street and its “upscale antique shops and art galleries.” A large store called the Stalls has 60 dealers, and right now there’s a 19th century French walnut buffet in there somewhere going for $4,500.

Want even more variety? How about 2,400 antique booths on the second weekend of each month. You’ll find them at the Atlanta Expos Centers near the airport.

Let’s see, what else? Traveling east of town you can find antiques in the tiny town of Rutledge. Then keep going to Madison, a town frozen in time, full of restored antebellum homes. This sounds like a good place to hunt for Victorian furniture. Check into Antiques on the Square. They’ve got an American walnut armoire, Renaissance Revival, circa 1870 for $1,795.

Have a look at the article here. There’s a whole lot more, and it’s an entertaining read even if you can’t make it to Atlanta.

Technorati Tags: 19th Century, Antiques, Armoire, Atlanta, Buffet, French, Furniture, Renaissance, Revival, Victorian, Walnut

Here’s a column from the Ottawa Citizen, written by antiques expert John Sewell. The column is another one that gives appraisal of antiques to readers who I assume send in their inquiries with photographs.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find the photos that go with this column. That’s odd. Unless I’m overlooking a link, it’s left to our imagination to supply an image of the pieces.

One of them is intriguing enough for me to have linked to the article despite its visual deficiency. Someone named Ron describes a “piece of furniture” that his mother brought from Ireland in the late 19th century. Mother? Late 19th century? Wow.

We learn from Ron that it came from a castle in Ireland, is solid mahogany, has its original finish and original mirror, and measures 236 centimeters high by 90 centimeters wide. Evidently, however, Ron doesn’t have all his information straight. Because Mr. Sewell replies that it’s actually North American, not Irish, and made of walnut rather than mahogany. No, at this point we still don’t know what type of furniture it is, except that it does have a mirror. I assume Ron wasn’t mistaken about that.

Are you guessing dresser? In fact, it’s an étagère, the French name, Mr. Sewell explains, for an open-shelved piece of furniture used to display ornamental pieces, common in hallways of grand Victorian homes. The style is Renaissance Revival, dating to around 1865 to 1870, worth at least $1,500 in today’s soft, buyer’s market.

The mysteries of antique Victorian furniture. What about that Irish castle? Did this North American étagère make two trips across the Atlantic in the late 1800s?

Click here to see the article, but not the étagère. If you do find a photo, please let me know.

Technorati Tags: 19th Century, Antique, Etagere, Furniture, Mahogany, Renaissance, Revival, Victorian

I ran into a column written by a woman named Anne Gilbert. Anne is known as The Antique Detective, and her column appears in the publication ElmLeaves, which is part of the Sun-Times Group in the Chicago area. People send Anne photos of their antiques, in order to get her expert assessment of them.

This particular column contains some interesting pieces. There’s a desk that converts into a bed, c. 1916. There’s an Arts and Crafts table in the style of Gustav Stickley, which currently has little value because of its poor condition. But Anne reports that if it could be attributed to a specific maker like Stickley and then professionally refinished, it could fetch $5,000 at auction.

And for us? How about an antique Victorian parlor table, Renaissance revival, c. 1875. Excellent carvings. Shop value in the range of $800.

Have a look.

Technorati Tags: Antique, Antiques, Arts, Auction, Bed, Crafts, Desk, Renaissance, Revival, Table