Horner Faux Bamboo Chest

Victorian furniture was larger, heavier, usually darker and much more ornate than the mid-century or even modern pieces used today. The houses were large and dark. The electric light was not invented until about 1805 and the candles and oil lamps used for light could only illuminate a small area. Big carvings could be seen, […]

Canton China Bulb Tray

Canton china with its blue and white decoration has been a popular collectible for many years but few can distinguish it from the other early or modern Chinese blue and white china. It has been popular for centuries partly because cobalt blue coloring was safe to use when decorating dishes. Red ware and pewter contained […]

Tussie Mussie

Is it a tussie mussie, a bouquetiere, a porte-bouquet, a nosegay or a posey holder? This funnel-shaped metal object was a fashionable accessory with an important purpose. In medieval times, the streets smelled from garbage and horses and other animals and lack of toilets. Women carried small bouquets of herbs and spices to cover the […]

Campeche Chairs

When decorating a room, it’s fun to include something out-of-the-ordinary. Perhaps you can find an unusual lamp or a modern painting or a piece of furniture in an unusual style. Try something new and go to an online or on land auction to see what is selling. Neal Auction Company’s recent auction was selling many […]

Coffee Grinder

In the 1950s there were still A & P grocery stores that only sold bags of coffee beans that had to be ground in a large iron grinder in the store, even though there were other brands of ground beans in bags. The customer chose the type and could grind it or ask a clerk […]

Cave a Liqueur Decanter Set

Antiques are given many names, often changed to be written in a new language or used in a different way and there can be confusion. Is a “cave a liqueur” the same as a tantalus? Both have decanter bottles; both have drinking glasses; both can have locks; and both are used to serve liquor to […]

Mettlach Mustard Pot

Mettlach, Germany, is a town known for manufacturing beer steins at the Villeroy and Boch (V & B) factories since about 1842. They made all types of pottery. It started in 1809 when Pierre-Joseph Boch started a company in the remains of a cathedral built in 786 A.D. It had been partially destroyed during the […]

Silver-Plated Double-Faced Pitchers

Silver-plated pitchers were made by Reed and Barton in Taunton, Massachusetts, a company founded in 1822. The pitchers look like the double-faced stoneware pitchers made by the Martin Brothers in England between 1875 and 1915. Similar pitchers were also made by Royal Doulton. The silver examples are known as “Sunny Jim.” Many figural pitchers, steins […]

Wallace Nutting Furniture

Sometimes a reproduction of an antique is worth almost as much as the original antique. Wallace Nutting (1861-1941) was a collector, expert, photographer, furniture maker, author and an important part of the Colonial Revival in the United States. He went to Harvard, married, and started taking photographs of the New England scenery. Soon he furnished […]

Early Eyeglasses

The earliest use of eyeglasses was recorded about 1300. Rock crystal was shaped and set in round frames to wear and improve clarity. Glasses with temple arms that sit on the ears were not created until the 1700s. Glasses with dark lenses were worn for medical reasons by the late 19th century. Sunglasses that just […]