Driscolls Antiques – Antique Furniture Blog

Howard and Sons Chairs

Howard and Sons of London were one of the best upholstery makers of the Victorian era. They were as well known as the antique furniture makers Gillows for the quality and styles of furniture, in fact Howard and Sons worked together with Gillows on several occasions and it is said that they manufactured pieces of upholstered furniture for Gillows and other renowned makers like Maple and Co.
Howard and Sons chairs were shown at large exhibitions around the world and supplied several Royal homes.
Howard and Sons were mainly well known for antique upholstered easy armchairs, antique sofas, antique wing chairs and antique chaise longue. They only used the finest materials and made there chairs for comfort.
Howard and Sons mainly used traditional upholstering techniques such as tenon jointed frames, stitched front edging and used solid woods for the frames so there chairs were not just comfortable pieces of furniture, but also hard wearing and built to last.

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Antique furniture by the furniture makers John McLean & Sons

John McLean & Sons were a leading antique furniture cabinet makers from the regency period , who operated from premises in Tottenham Court Road and later in Upper Marylebone Street London. McLean was listed as a subscriber to Thomas Sheraton’s Cabinet Dictionary and from this book he drew inspiration. Many of his pieces have a French influence and he liked to use gilt brass ornamentation. He was well known for producing beautiful antique sofa table usually with brass mounts and in a nice wood like rosewood.

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The Antique Furniture Makers John Cobb (1715-1778). John Cobb worked in premises on Martins Lane, London. He completed his apprenticeship in 1736 and went into a partnership with William Vile in 1751 and then took over the firm upon Vile’s retirement in 1764. By this time John Cobb himself was mainly involved in the design and quality control.

He specialised in marquetry and introduced new woods for inlays such as harewood, burr-yew and fruitwoods. He designed and marketed his furniture in the neo-Classical style in which intricate marquetry replaced carved wood. His main competition in this field from other London firms, were Thomas Chippendale, John Linnell and Mayhew and Ince.

He was known for pieces of antique furniture such as antique chest of drawers usually in the serpentine shape and with beautiful bandings and unusual veneers.

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The antique furniture made by the firm called Seddon (1753–1868) was the largest furniture making firm in London in the last quarter of the 18^th century, yet not many items were labelled or documented so it is difficult to identify a piece by this maker. Seddon was constantly devising new forms of furniture and were known for items such as floral paintings on furniture and they used quality inlays especially on antique card tables.

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Edwards and Roberts Antique Furniture

The firm Edwards and Roberts were among the best english antique furniture cabinet makers of the second half of the 1800s. The company was founded in 1845 and by 1854 was trading as ‘Edwards and Roberts’, 21 Wardour Street, Antique and Modern Cabinet Makers and Importers of Ancient Furniture’. They became one of the leading London cabinet makers and retailers and the firm produced high quality furniture, as well as good copies of the 18th and 19th century English and French pieces. There workmanship included pieces with satinwood marquetry and favoured the Georgian designs. They were known for restoring adapting older pieces of antique furniture

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