Driscolls Antiques – Antique Furniture Blog

What brass decoration was used in antique furniture

Antique furniture has many different types of decoration and brass was one of the materials used. Not only was brass used on most handles it was also used in galleries, inlay, mounts, corbels and some feet.

Brass inlay in antique furniture was a form of stringing using brass and it was very popular in the late Georgian and Regency periods. It was also revived in some late Victorian pieces and brass inlay was mainly used on mahogany furniture and rosewood furniture. Having brass inlay is a sign of quality as it was a difficult and expensive decoration to use.

Take a look at this beautiful piece we currently have for sale. It has brass feet, brass inlay and a brass gallery. It is a Victorian what not with shaped shelves, boulle marquetry brass inlay, brass gallery, turned finials and stands on cabriole legs with ornate brass feet.

Brass mounts was very popular in quality Victorian furniture and was introduced to replace the more bland earlier wrought iron mounts. Good pieces with brass mounts are antique pier cabinets like this antique Victorian walnut pier cabinet with central inlay, glazed door and beautiful brass ormolu mounts.

Brass handles can be seen on almost every Victorian chest of drawers so check out our antiques website for details and pictures.

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What is a bun foot on antique furniture

A bun foot can often be seen on Victorian and sometimes earlier pieces of antique furniture. The bun foot is a turned bulbous shaped foot that resembles a slightly flattened ball shape or sometimes is bulbous in shape with a smaller turned section at the bottom. It originally appeared in William and Mary furniture but it was the most popular foot in the Victorian furniture but can be seen in some regency and William IV furniture.

An example of a regency boot foot is our Regency oak antique bureau with a moulded fall front and the interior has drawers, pigeon holes and letter racks. The lower section has two graduating cock beaded drawers with turned handles, stands on four elegant turned bun feet.

An example of a William IV bun foot is our antique mahogany William IV chiffonier with frieze drawer, cupboard doors, beautiful turned column sides and the piece stands on turned bun feet.

An example of Victorian bun feet is our antique Victorian mahogany chest of drawers frieze drawer, beautiful carved corbels, graduating cock beaded drawers with turned knobs and stands on beautifully turned bun feet.

the bun foot is an elegant turned foot and gives height to the furniture.

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What is the term Biedermeier in antique furniture

Biedermier is a term of a style of continental antique furniture and was mainly produced Germany and surrounding countries from the early 1800s and throughout the Victorian period up to around the 1880s.

The word biedermeier originally came from the name of a fictitious politician appearing in a German newspaper, a well to do uncultured middle class person. The style of biedermeier furniture did influence some British pieces of antique furniture but most pieces in this style are continental.

Like our flamed mahogany antique wardrobe as it is continental and in the biedermeier style. This antique wardrobe is from the Victorian period and was built around the 1860 – 1870s. It has a mirrored door with moulded edges, a lower drawer above a shaped plinth drawer.

It is rare to find matching bedside cabinets but we do get biedermeier style antique bedside cabinets from the victorian era like these with moulded drawers, central cupboard door and small turned bun feet.

other items we have had include this biedermeier German Mahogany Cylinder Desk
with beautiful fitted interior and constructed with a flamed mahogany veneer (this is seen quite often in continental furniture)

also we have had a biedermeier burr walnut wardrobe with two doors veneered in striking striking burr walnut. It has carved corbels, reeded moulding and stands on turned bun feet.

as you can see they are all very similar in design and looks, with unusual veneers.

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What does breakfront mean on antique furniture

A breakfront is a term used in antique furniture to describe a very clever design. It is when the piece of furniture steps forward in the centre from the two outer sections.

This makes a very plain front look very interesting with a step on the front and a different version is an inverted break front which is the same idea but instead of stepping forward it steps back.

This type of design in antique furniture has been produced from the Georgian period onwards and can be seen in many different items.

From a Regency mahogany breakfront library bookcase with glazed doors with moulded edges, adjustable shelves and is breakfronted.

Or a William IV breakfront mahogany antique wardrobe with a stepped moulded cornice above mirrored doors with moulded edges, brass handles and the piece stands on a deep plain breakfront plinth. The central interior has mahogany lined linen trays above drawers

Or even to an Antique Victorian mahogany sideboard with carved edge above drawers, cupboards and as you can see in the centre this piece of antique furniture has an inverted breakfront as it steps back.

a breakfront or inverted breakfront is an interesting way to change a straight line into a much more interesting design but it still keep the items nice and simple to look at and not over fussy.

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Our updated homepage is now live.

On our antique furniture website you will see a few minor adjustments. The first is now the latest eight pieces of antique furniture put up for sale are shown on the homepage and this changes as we put new stock up for sale. Next week there will be more changes such as more symbols added to the left side like the antiques are green logo to promote how buying antiques is a very good way to save our trees and protect the environment. We are also members of LAPADA that is currently displayed but also we are members of CINOA and this symbol will be displayed. This is to give more confidence in buying online as we offer a 28 money back guarantee and to show our experience in dealing in antiques as you need to qualify, showing knowledge of antiques to become lapada and cinoa members. There will be more updates coming soon throughout the website so please keep checking it as these changes will be made to make it more easy to navigate and to make the site more appealing to look at.

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What is a bible well in an antique bureau

Our range of antique furniture can sometimes come with unique features. Some of our antique bureaux can a very nice feature called a bible well. A bible well is a secret drawer that is on the surface of the inside of the bureau. It slides back and reveals a sunken storage area for your bible. This is mainly seen in the earlier versions of the antique bureau as it fased out on the later versions in England. The bible well was popular in antique bureaux in the early to mid 17^th century and we do get some very nice examples of antique bureau with a bible well for sale. Also antique bureaux come with lots of other nice features such as secret drawers, pigeon holes, letter racks and small drawers.

The best example that we currently have for sale is our antique mid Georgian mahogany bureau constructed around the 1740 to 1760 and has a moulded fall front. The interior has several pigeon holes, small drawers, column slides and a bible well. because of the bible well the lower section has a long faux drawer over working drawers. The antique bureau stands on shaped bracket feet.

bible wells were not unique to British antique furniture as we have had continental pieces with one. Look at our rosewood inlaid bureau, possibly French from the mid 1800s and has a brass gallery, floral inlay and the interior has a leather writing insert, small drawers and a sliding bible well compartment.

It is a very nice feature and a good conversation piece.

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Have you seen our new antique painted furniture section

Driscolls antiques are now offering fine quality painted antique furniture for sale. Our antique painted furniture section on the left hand side navigation bar displays pieces with original paint finish and pieces that we beautifully hand finished in a farrow and ball natural colours and look stunning in any home.

We will be updating our painted section soon with more pieces but we have just put up for sale ten very nice pieces (three of the items have already sold) so please take a look and they are also very reasonably priced. My particular favourite painted piece at the moment is the Antique Georgian painted press as it has linen trays in the top cupboard and deep drawers below so has lots of storage and is nice and simple in design. It is the ideal piece for your bedroom or living room as a very useful piece.

These pieces are also the ideal furniture for children’s bedrooms as if they get marked then it is easy to re paint them as we supply the colour of the paint. This will save a lot of stress worrying about your children let loose with crayons as I have found out in the past. Please take a look at our new selection and keep checking as we will be adding newly painted furniture soon.

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What is a burr wood on antique furniture

Burr wood in antique furniture is a very gained wood and can look striking. burr wood or also known as burl wood comes from a growth on a tree (usually seen near the base of the tree) and when cut by cabinet makers it makes a highly figured veneer used on antique furniture. Burr veneer was first used in the 17th century and it was mainly burr walnut that was used.

I particularly like burr walnut as it gives a very nice grain and rich look but burr woods also come in pollard oak which has a very similar grain and many other rare woods.

We always have a good selection of burr wood antique furniture in stock and it is very popular with our customers.

We currently have a striking piece in burr walnut and is a very unusual size. It is an antique burr walnut small wardrobe constructed in the Victorian period. This stunning antique wardrobe has a moulded cornice above beautifully figured burr walnut doors with arched moulding and turned handles. It has a deep drawer with turned handles and stands on a moulded plinth.

The other very attractive bur walnut piece is an antique burr walnut card table also from the Victorian period with moulded edges, a green baize interior, beautifully turned uprights and splayed legs with brown porcelain castors.

Unusual burr woods include pollard oak and this can be seen in our antique pollard oak desk with graduating drawers, brass handles and shaped bracket feet.

Larger pieces with burr veneers can be seen in antique bookcases and antique wardrobes like our antique Victorian burr walnut triple wardrobe cupboard doors, beautifully veneered in burr walnut.

Burr woods are usually golden in colour and are stunning to look at especially on antique furniture.

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What is a book inlay on antique furniture

Book inlay can be seen in some very good quality antique bureaux. It is called book inlay because it looks like the sides of books but is a concealed drawer.

I can only find one example on my website of this type of inlay and unfortunately it is now sold but I thought I would publish the pictures to show you haw book inlay looks. It is on a beautiful Georgian mahogany bureau with a cross banded moulded fall front. The interior has several pigeon holes, small oak lined drawers a central flamed mahogany cupboard door, several concealed drawers and two book inlayed drawers. The lower section has two over three graduating oak lined drawers with cock beading and brass swan neck handles. It is a stunning quality antique bureau and if you want me to find you a good bureau with book inlay please email me or keep checking my antiques website as we update it daily with our latest antiques for sale.

this is a stunning example and if you see antique bureaux like this then you know it is of superb quality.

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What wood is birch in antique furniture

Birch is a light coloured hardwood often used in antique Victorian furniture and has a close grain and is a very strong wood. When Victorian cabinet makers cut birch on an angle this made a very unusual grain called satin birch and this grain was known as tiger or zebra stripes. It gives the piece of antique furniture a light appearance but with a striking stripy grain. We get several different pieces of antique furniture in satin birch and because of it light appearance it fits into modern interiors as well as more traditional so it sells quick.

Satin birch was mainly used in antique bedroom furniture and here are a few examples of pieces in satin birch that we sell on our website.

Our antique Victorian satin birch cylindrical pot cupboard has a circular moulded top with a central drawer. As you can see it is a warm golden birch.

For a striking grained birch look at our antique Victorian satin birch linen press with two panelled doors, deep drawers with turned knobs

We also have had in the past a Victorian satin birch dressing table with a large central moulded tilting mirror, has rounded corners and graduating drawers with original turned handles

Other useful satin birch bedroom furniture includes this Victorian satin birch antique chest of drawers graduating drawers with moulded edges and beautiful turned knobs.

satin birch is a rich golden colour and comes with a very unusual striking grain. If we do not have any pieces for sale then let us know of your interest and we will email you pictures of new stock as it does sell very fast.

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