Driscolls Antiques – Antique Furniture Blog

What is a Barley sugar twist on antique furniture

Barley-sugar twist or also known as Barley twist is a type of turning in the form of a spiral twist. This form of turning was used in the late seventeenth century but became very fashionable in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. It was used on column supports, as table legs and as decorative moulding and was often used on mahogany and oak antique furniture.

Current examples we have for sale include an antique Victorian mahogany bookcase with beautiful barley twist pilasters

A set of Edwardian barley twist dining chairs each in oak with barley twist upright supports, splayed back legs, H stretchers and turned front legs.

and a Victorian oak barley twist side server with moulded shelves and beautiful barley twist side supports.

Bookmark

What is a Finial and a Drop finial on antique furniture

One form of decoration on antique furniture is a finial. A finial is basically a turned section. It finishes a piece off rather than just having a straight edge it ends with a beautiful turned section and this was often used in Victorian pieces of furniture.

A good example of this is our Victorian mahogany occasional table with a solid mahogany rectangular top with rounded corners and stands on four beautiful turned uprights and a turned stretcher, with four splayed legs, castors and beautiful turned central finials.

A drop finial is a hanging finial which first appeared on 17^th century furniture like court cupboards but was often used in Victorian and Edwardian pieces. Look at our Victorian flamed mahogany dining table with a tilting top and stands on a beautiful turned pedestal, scrolled legs, castors and a central turned drop finial.

A brass finial is the same design but in brass like on our Georgian antique corner cupboard with a swan neck pediment and a brass finial on top.

Bookmark

Antique Sofa, Chaise lounge, Chesterfield and Daybed

If you are looking to buy a comfortable piece of antique furniture large enough to seat more than one person then why not look at our antique sofas, antique chaise lounges, antique chesterfields and antique daybeds.

The antique sofa can come in many different styles and a very nice version is a chesterfield as it is an overstuffed upholstered sofa that is very comfy. We have a very nice antique upholstered chesterfield for sale at the moment and it has a scrolled, buttoned back and arms, with loose cushions, stands on splayed back legs and tapering front legs with brass castors. This chesterfield has a continuous arm which means the chairs arms are a continuation all around the back.

An antique chaise lounge is a long chair designed for relaxing and is usually upholstered. it can also be called an antique Daybed. They are armless lounge seating and are upholstered but have also been known as an antique couch. We currently have a beautiful antique mahogany chaise longue / daybed for sale and it has a moulded buttoned carved back, scrolled arm and a deep padded seat, stands on beautifully turned feet with brass cup castors.

All come upholstered and are very comfortable to sit on so are ideal for your living rooms plus as they are antiques they will hopefully hold their values and hopefully increase in value over time.

Bookmark

What is a Bonnet and Cushion Drawer

On many different pieces of antique furniture there are several different types of drawers. Two very nice types of drawers are the bonnet drawer and the cushion drawer.

The Cushion drawer can also be called a shaped frieze drawer and can very often be seen on many Scottish antique furniture, it is a cushion shape. Look at our antique Victorian mahogany Scottish chest of drawers with an inverted breakfront top above a shaped double frieze drawer or bonnet drawer. The lower section has three oak lined cock beaded drawers with turned mother of pearl inlaid handles. The antique chest of drawers has beautiful barley twist column supports and stands on 4 turned bun feet.

A Bonnet drawer can also be seen on many antiques like our antique Regency mahogany linen press with a moulded top above two cupboard doors and the lower section has a rectangular moulded top above two unusual deep oak lined double bonnet drawers designed to be deep enough for your hats or bonnets. The antique press stands on shaped bracket feet and is a very useful and stunning piece.

Bookmark

What is an antique Canterbury

The antique Canterbury is a small and very decorative stand having divisions originally used for sheet music. They are movable as they stand on casters with racks and drawers and divisions so now they are the ideal piece of antique furniture for the storage of magazines, and books and lots of loose paper that you can have lying around. The antique Canterbury was first introduced in the late Georgian period and was popular though out the Victorian and Edwardian periods. They are only small pieces of furniture so do not take up much room in your home but they can really be a good piece for storage as modern magazine racks just do not fit in with beautiful old interiors so this is the ideal alternative for you.

We only currently have one for sale at the moment but below is some details and pictures and this is available on our secure antique furniture website.
It is an antique Edwardian Canterbury with a moulded top with three divisions and inlaid panels. The base has a drawer with brass handles and the piece stands on four tapering legs with brass cup castors, a stunning little piece.

Bookmark

What is a cross stretcher on antique Chairs

On antique chairs they have at the bottom behind the feet section a cross stretcher or also known as a H stretcher. It is a stretcher that joins in the middle of the two stretchers that run from front leg to back leg. Also seen on some antique chairs there is a cresing rail which is the top rail of the antique chair, joining the two back uprights at the top. There can also be a double H stretcher, basically meaning two cross rails instead of one. All these add to the strength and stability of antique furniture and this is why pieces last for so many hundreds of years in such good condition.

Below is some pictures of 8 Victorian mahogany antique dining chairs in the Hepplewhite design each chair has a square back with beautifully carved uprights and moulded edges, stand on splayed back legs, tapering front legs and H stretchers for added stability.

Bookmark

What is the term canted corner on antique furniture

On antique furniture you can sometimes have a canted surface edge which is a bevelled, chamfered edge usually on the corners of chest of drawers and this type of design is called canted corner. The canted corner is bevelled or chamfered on the corners and is mainly seen on carcase furniture such as antique chests of drawers, antique bureaux, antique tall boys and can often be decorated with many different and interesting designs such as a blind fret on Georgian furniture, reeding often in regency chests and fluting can be seen on many antiques. More plain canted corners can be seen on antique table edges and on Georgian corner cupboards. Our antique Georgian mahogany chest has a dentil moulding above drawers with brass swan neck handles and the sides are canted and reeded.

Our Georgian mahogany floor standing corner cupboard has a moulded cornice above a deep frieze, has two cupboard doors with raised fielded panels and a plain canted corners on either side.

Our antique Victorian walnut wind out table has a winding mechanism, handle, removable leaf and the top has moulded edges with canted corners.

Bookmark

What is a corbel on antique furniture

Antique furniture can have many unique and pretty features and the Victorians added some very nice details to many wardrobes and bookcases in the form of a corbel. A corbel is a carved bracket usually in a scrolled form and can be seen on the corners of many pieces of antique furniture. Corbels can come hand carved or on some later are machine carved but the best are the hand carved by a skilled craftsman and you can tell this by the detail of the fine carving.

below are some pictures of different styles of corbels on antique furniture from the Victorian era and as you can see they are very nice ways of decorating furniture.

Bookmark

What is a Bureau ?

An antique bureau is a term used in antique furniture for a writing desk with a sloping fall-front. The fall front is hinged above a chest of drawers and the interior usually has lots of small drawers, slides and a writing surface. The antique bureau is one of the earliest form of writing desk as it has been around since the 1600s and was first seen in France around the mid 17^th century. The French version was a fall fronted cabinet and the first British version was with gate legs to support the fall front. By the 18^th century the gate leg supports were replaced by sliding pull out lopers at each side and this was a much more practical design. to begin with the bureau section was a free standing upon a chest but then the bureau section was combined with the chest of drawers and this led to the beautiful Georgian bureau we often see and love. Mouldings on the fronts of the dust boards can be seen on the earlier versions but the mid 18^th century bureaux have cock beading on the edges on the drawers. This was the most popular design throughout the Georgian period and mahogany and oak were the woods mainly used. We do get many different antique bureaux for sale from all periods but Georgian ones are my favourite versions as they come with beautiful grained wood, nice interiors and good character. Good examples of both wood that we currently have for sale are below and are available on our antiques website.

We have a stunning antique George III mahogany bureau with a moulded fall front and the interior has several small drawers, pigeon holes and letter racks for all your paperwork and letters. The bureau has 4 long drawers with string inlay, swan neck handles and key escutcheons. It has shaped bracket feet and a shaped apron. a stunning piece.

If your preference is oak we have a stunning antique oak bureau writing desk from the Regency period with a moulded fall front and the interior has several small oak lined drawers, several pigeon holes and letter racks for all your loose papers and mail. It has 2 over 2 cock beaded oak lined drawers with turned handles and stands on 4 beautiful turned bun feet. Also a very good example and they are both very reasonably priced so check out our website for details.

Bookmark

What is a Chiffonier

A chiffonier is a piece of antique furniture that was mainly around in the Regency, William IV and Victorian era. It is a small sideboard or side cabinet, constructed usually with an upper tier (shelf) and was for your dining room, library or drawing room. They sometimes have a cellarets in side for storing wine and a top drawer for your fine cutlery. The top shelf was either for displaying your fine ornaments but the back was to stop any splashing of food onto your wall when serving so it was a dual purpose piece of furniture. We do get many antique chiffonier for sale and always display them on our website. They come in all woods like oak or mahogany but some of my favourite ones are made in rosewood.

We currently have a stunning antique Regency rosewood chiffonier with scrolled back with an upper shelf and scrolled supports. It has a mahogany lined frieze drawer, two cupboard doors with moulding and stands on a plain plinth.

Or if you like mahogany we have an antique Regency mahogany chiffonier with a shaped back, shelf with shaped brackets. The chiffonier has a frieze drawer, two cupboard doors, carved corbels with pilasters and the piece stands on a plain plinth.

Oak is quite hard to find but we do occasionally get them in stock like this antique Victorian oak chiffonier with a shaped raised back, shelf and shaped brackets. It has cupboard doors with moulded panels, a pilaster down both sides and stands on a plain plinth.

They are all very nice antiques and would look stunning in any home.

Bookmark