Victorian Furniture

About Antique Victorian Furniture

Victorian antique furniture refers to pieces made during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), and includes both mass produced pieces and those hand crafted in small shops by designers such as Herter Brothers, Allen and Brother, Merklen Brothers, John Henry Belter, Alexander Roux and R.J. Horner.

Although some designers like George Hunzinger put labels or stamps on all their furniture, many did not, so attributing a Victorian piece conclusively can require lots of research. In terms of wood, walnut is generally inferior to rosewood, which was used on higher end pieces...

There are many, and very different, Victorian furniture styles. In fact, famous Victorian designer Charles Eastlake himself hated Rococo, which is mid 1850s Victorian. Here are some of the main Victorian styles:

1) Gothic Revival (circa 1830-1860). Think churches and you have a good feel for this furniture style - design elements such as arches, quatrefoils, trefoils, spires, and crockets.

2) Rococo Revival (c. 1840-1865). High-style furniture of French influence marked by use of naturalistic flora (flowers, shells) and fruit as well as C-scrolls and S-scrolls, and highly sinewy curved lines.. Early pieces may have used mahogany, but common Rococo often used Walnut, while the top-end leveraged Rosewood.

3) Renaissance Revival (c. 1860-1890). Reverses the feminine elegance of Rococo around the time of the Civil War by espousing masculine arches, cartouches, animal and human figures, inlaid panels, burl panels, gilt incising, and ormulu mounts. Subgenres include Egyptian Revival, Modern Gothic, and Neo-Grec.

4) Eastlake and Aesthetic Movement (c. 1880-1900). Moving away from the showy complicated designs of prior eras, this furniture has stylized natural elements (flowers, leaves), rectangular forms and severe lines, shallow incisings and turnings. On finer pieces, marquetry, inlay and veneering can also be found.

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Interviews & Articles

An Interview With Victorian Furniture Collector John Werry

How did I get started collecting Victorian Furniture? Antiques is in my genes, my mother's family were longti… [more]

Victorian Furniture

"Why do writers on antique furniture leave off right where my interest begins," protests a man who has acquir… [more]

American Cast-Iron Furniture

In the broadside political caricatures which were produced and circulated quite freely in America from the be… [more]

An Interview With American Furniture Collector Chuck LaChiusa

About 11 years ago, my wife and I went on some architectural tours. We joined the organization that sponsored… [more]

An Interview With Victorian Trade Card Collector Ben Crane

How did I start collecting Victorian trade cards? In the late 60s I was a bottle collector, early American bo… [more]

An Interview With Victorian Greeting Card Collector Malcolm Warrington

Malcolm Warrington is based 12 miles to the west of Central London. He is a council member of the UK Ephemera… [more]

An Interview With Eames Collector and Mid Century Design Aficionado Steve Cabella

As a teenager, I collected everything from vintage bicycles to Coca-Cola to Victorian stuff. Once I realized… [more]

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Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)

Rare Victorian

Rare Victorian

John Werry's in-depth blog on rare Victorian Furniture, with detailed, informative and often humorous posts on doze… [read review or visit site]

George Hunzinger Furniture

George Hunzinger Furniture

Scott Geyer's blog on the innovative Victorian furniture designs of George Jacob Hunzinger, who began manufacturing… [read review or visit site]

Buffalo Architecture and History

Buffalo Architecture and History

Chuck LaChiusa's wonderful guide to the architecture and history of Buffalo, NY, also happens to host an impressive… [read review or visit site]

The Scrap Album

The Scrap Album

Attention paper collectors: don't miss Malcolm Warrington's exquisitely designed tribute to Victorian scraps (stamp… [read review or visit site]

Trade Card Place

Trade Card Place

Ben Crane's excellent reference site on Victorian trade cards. Includes a scrapbook containing hundreds of beautifu… [read review or visit site]

Chipstone

Chipstone

This beautiful site showcases the collection of Stanley and Polly Stone of Fox Point, Wisconsin, consisting of earl… [read review or visit site]

EamesCollector.com

EamesCollector.com

Steven Cabella's personal homage to Charles and Ray Eames. This site is as clean and visually appealing as the Eame… [read review or visit site]

Stevengraphs Bookmarks and Postcards

Stevengraphs Bookmarks and Postcards

Malcolm Roebuck's tribute to the ornate silk picture bookmarks and postcards ('Stevengraphs') produced by Thomas St… [read review or visit site]

Kentucky Online Arts Resource

Kentucky Online Arts Resource

This huge online database from the Speed Art Museum is a rich trove of beautiful photos and reference information o… [read review or visit site]

Index of American Design

Index of American Design

The Index of American Design project (1935-1942) was an effort to catalog American decorative arts objects from the… [read review or visit site]

LACMA Arts and Crafts

LACMA Arts and Crafts

This microsite from the LA County Museum of Art provides a good overview of the Arts and Crafts movement in Europe … [read review or visit site]

Modernism

Modernism

An overview by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts of the design movements between 1880 and 1940 that comprised Moder… [read review or visit site]

Herman Miller Consortium Collection

Herman Miller Consortium Collection

This website showcases several hundred pieces of furniture, held by thirteen museums, that were designed for Herman… [read review or visit site]

Work of Charles and Ray Eames

Work of Charles and Ray Eames

This Library of Congress microsite is an overview of the postwar modern design work of Charles (1907-78) and Ray (1… [read review or visit site]


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1870 Victorian Burl Walnut Lion Cherub Buffet Sideboard$610.00 Ends Sunday 11 bids 30 watchers
Fine Lion Carved Antique Victorian Library Easy Chair$515.25 Ends Wednesday 20 bids 95 watchers
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Antique Walnut Victorian Rococo Canterbury$135.50 Ends in 20 hours 2 bids 5 watchers
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Recent News: Victorian Furniture

Source: Google News

DACC cast to perform murder-mystery
Danville Commercial News, November 17th

The set will feature a large staircase, Victorian furniture and period costumes. Although he usually prefers comedies, he's finding a welcome challenge in...Read more

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Weekend Post, November 17th

THE highest bidder will be spoilt for choice in antique Victorian furniture that is to be auctioned off in Port Elizabeth this morning...Read more

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emerald-accented set is a finely-detailed joy to see, and Lisa Burgess' like-colored period costumes are a delight, as is the Victorian furniture...Read more

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The auction items included Flow Blue china, carnival glass, stoneware, rare fruit jars, ironware, ironstone, primitives, glass, china, Victorian furniture,...Read more

Collectibles: Where And When To Start
Hartford Courant, November 7th

Poor Grandma let go a houseful of pristine Victorian furniture for just over $1500 to a "helpful" gentleman who volunteered to take them off her hands...Read more

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Antiques and Arts Weekly, November 6th

PLEASE JOIN US Over 300 Interesting Lots including :Russell Wright Furniture, Victorian Furniture, Period Country Americana, Paintings, A HUGE amount of...Read more

Ernest S. Eldridge
Antiques and the Arts Online, November 1st

MC 2% discount Cash or check We are very pleased to offer at public auction from the estate of Al Edgar, a sale of Victorian furniture and smalls...Read more

Book: White House 'the American house next door'
The Associated Press, October 31st

Teddy Roosevelt got rid of the Victorian furniture he considered in bad taste. And in the 1940s and 1950s as millions began moving into suburbs,...Read more

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