Art Deco a la Francaise

French Art Deco dining chair 1925

QUESTION: Recently I purchased a set of six dining chairs that seem like they could be from the 1950s. The blond wood and the upholstery tacks used were very common back then. But I’m not so sure. The chairs were a bit more than I originally wanted to pay but they’re in great condition and go perfectly with the retro look I’m trying to create. What can you tell me about my chairs?

ANSWER: Your dining chairs are a fine example of French Art Deco. They would have been placed under an equally simple, but elegant dining table.

Art Deco emerged in Paris just before World War I as a luxurious design style. But it wasn’t until after the war in the 1920s that Modernism appeared throughout Europe. Until the art world coined the name Art Deco later on in the 1960s, designers referred to the style as Arte Moderne which is French for Modern Art.

Art Nouveau chair 1900

Art Nouveau furniture became a commercial failure. The intricate inlays and carvings made it too expensive for all except the very rich.  Concerned by competitive advances in design and manufacturing made in Germany and Austria in the early 20th century, French designers realized they could rejuvenate a their French furniture industry by producing luxurious pieces that a greater number of people could afford.

The founding in 1900 of the Société des Artistes Décorateurs (the Society of Artist-Decorators), a professional designers' association, marked the appearance of new standards for French design and production. Each year the association held exhibitions in which their members exhibited their work. In 1912, the French Government decided to sponsor an international exhibition of decorative arts to promote French design. However, they had to postpone the exhibition, originally scheduled for 1915, until after World War I.

Set at the Trocadero in Paris, near the Eiffel Tower, La Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exhibition of Modern and Industrial Decorative Arts), held finally in 1925, was a massive trade fair that dazzled more than 16 million visitors during its seven-month run. On exhibit was everything from architecture and interior design to jewelry and perfumes, all intended to promote French luxury items. With such a long name, visitors began referring to the exhibition, and subsequently the design movement, as Art Deco. On display were a wide range of decorative arts, created between the two world wars.

International Exhibition of Modern and Industrial Decorative Arts, Paris 1925

French Art Deco barrel chairs

The French Government invited over 20 countries to participate. All works on display had to be modern, no copying of historical styles of the past would be permitted. The stylistic unity of exhibits at the fair indicated that Art Deco had already become an international style by 1925.The great commercial success of Art Deco ensured that designers and manufacturers throughout Europe would continue to produce furniture in this style until well into the 1930s.

French Art Deco molded and veneered side table

In France, Art Deco combined the traditional quality and luxury of French furniture with the good taste of Classicism and the exoticism of far-off lands. Many designers used sumptuous, expensive materials like exotic hardwoods, ivory, and lacquer combined with geometric forms and luxurious fabrics to provide plush comfort. Motifs like Chinese fretwork, African textile patterns, and Central American ziggurats provided designers with the exotic designs to play with to create a fresh, modern look. They depicted natural motifs as graceful and highly stylized. The use of animal skins, horn, and ivory accents from French colonies in Africa gave pieces exotic appeal.

French Art Deco sideboard with marble top and inlaid ivory and exotic woods

French Art Deco armchair with ziggurat motif

French Art Deco furniture featured elegant lines and often had ornamentation applied to its surface. It could be utilitarian or purely ornamental, conceived only for its decorative value. It was the look that was important to many French designers, not the use or comfort of the piece. Even today, some pieces look as if their designers intended them to remain on display in a store window and not be used at all. At times it seemed as though the designers and their patrons were trying to escape the dismal reality of daily life at that time.

In 1937, the French government sponsored another trade fair, La Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (The International Exhibition of Arts and Techniques in Modern Life). Less ambitious than the 1925 exhibition, this fair focused more on France's place in the modern world rather than on its production of luxury goods, thus marking the end of the French Art Deco Era.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  world's fairs in the 2020 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Basic Furniture Refinishing

QUESTION: I have a 1930's silky oak drop-door desk that has been in our shed for about 20 years.
It has seen a few cyclones and had a lot of weathering and the doors are off and knobs missing.
This desk holds special memories for me as a young child watching my dad working at it. I’d like to refinish it but have no idea where to begin. How hard would it be for a beginner like me to refinish it?

ANSWER: Your desk sounds like the ideal piece of furniture on which to learn about refinishing furniture. For many beginners, refinishing seems easy, but it’s far from it. First you need to decide if the piece needs to be completely refinished or the original finish preserved. Your desk sounds like it may fall somewhere in between.



It’s only been within the last 20 years or so that refinishing products have appeared that make the job less intimidating. However, most people think you have to strip off all the old finish before applying a new one. That all depends on the condition of the piece.

You piece sounds like it’s been through some tough times. Before you do anything, you need to evaluate it. Has the finish been mostly removed by weathering or is it spotty. If it’s the former, then you’ll need to sand it following the grain of the wood with fine to medium grade sandpaper. If it’s the latter, you may be able to just clean it up and apply a new coat of varnish. With refinishing, a little effort goes a long way. The nearer you can keep your desk to its original condition, the better.

Let’s assume the worst. If the finish has mostly been removed by weathering, you’ll need to remove what remains with a good varnish remover. Be sure to buy one that’s water soluble. Even though this takes longer to achieve the results you want, the fumes are mild and cleanup is easy. When using a remover, always brush it on with the grain of the wood. Do a little section at a time, turning the piece on end if necessary to make it easier to apply the remover. Scrap it off with a putty knife, and be sure to have a roll of paper towels handy to wipe up the excess and stripped varnish or paint.

After you’ve completely stripped your desk of its finish, lightly sand it with fine sandpaper. Wrap the sandpaper around a wooden block for support and sand with the wood grain. Be careful not to over sand----just enough to smooth the surface. After you’re finished sanding, wipe the desk with a damp cloth to remove all the dust. Do not get the wood wet.

Once you have prepared your desk for its new finish, let it rest for a day to make sure the surface is thoroughly dry. Dust it off with a dry cloth to make sure it’s clean, then begin to brush on a new finish using a soft-bristle brush and a furniture finish called tung or Chinese oil. Several manufacturers make this, including Formbys, and you should be able to buy it at your local hardware or home center. Apply the tung oil or a piece of white tube sock or other soft cotton material going with the grain of the wood.. The first coat will soak into the newly stripped wood. Let it dry 24 hours, then sand lightly with fine sandpaper. Dust it with a damp cloth again and let dry. Apply a second coat of the tung oil and repeat the process, except this time rub it with 0000 steel wool after it dries. Dust off again and apply a third and final coat of tung oil, but don’t rub with the steel wool this time.



The advantage to using tung oil is its rapid drying capability. Though it will feel dry to the touch in an hour or so, be sure to let it thoroughly dry for 24 hours. And don’t apply it on a humid or rainy day. And here's a tip: Wrap your application cloth in plastic wrap or put it into a Zip-Loc sandwich bag and place it in your freezer. Take it out 30 minutes before you're ready to apply another coat, and it will be ready for you.

Be sure to tune in next week to learn about preserving the finish of a piece of furniture that isn’t in such bad shape.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  world's fairs in the 2020 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Simple Gifts

QUESTION: I always associated the Shakers with rocking chairs. My grandmother had one, although I’m not sure it was an authentic one. But last Fall I took a trip to Hancock Shaker Village in western Massachusetts and discovered that the Shakers invented a whole host of items, many of which we use in improved forms today. What can you tell me about some of their inventions? And why were they so creative.

ANSWER: The old saying “Necessity is the mother of invention” certainly applied to the Shakers. Since this religious sect lived in communities apart from the outside world, they had to produce everything they needed. And this led to them inventing all sorts of things. And although they made and sold great chairs, especially rockers, to the outside world, they produced so much more.

Today, modern wood workshops wouldn’t be complete without a circular saw. Historians trace the origin of the circular saw blade to 1810 and the Shaker community at Harvard, Mass. It seemed that a Shaker Sister witnessed two Shaker Brothers cutting wood using a two-person reciprocating saw, and using her experience at spinning, realized she could improve the conventional way of sawing wood. She conceived a circular metal disk with saw teeth on its perimeter. She discussed it with some of the Shaker brothers who made a prototype blade and used water to spin it.  Today, the circular saw blade has been improved to cut everything from wood to concrete.



Mother Ann Lee founded the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, which is the sect's true name. She claimed to be the female manifestation of Christ. Persecuted in England, she and some followers came to Albany, N.Y., in late 1774. Ultimately they formed self-sustaining communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Indiana, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.

They became known as Shakers only after arriving in America. It was originally a derisive name given them by outsiders because of the frenzied dancing and shaking that typically took place during their worship services.

The Shakers under Mother Ann Lee believed they should strive for perfection. Using resources efficiently and effectively and finding ways to complete tasks faster and with less effort was a step toward perfection here on Earth.

One of the most common of Shaker inventions was the flat broom. Mother Ann is believed to have said, “There is no dirt in Heaven.” So keeping all the rooms and buildings in Shaker communities clean was a major chore.

And while brooms existed before the Shakers, but they were typically lengths of corn straw tied to a wooden handle. Brother Theodore Bates at the Watervliet, New York, community decided that a broom made with its bristles bound flat and straight would work better than a traditional one, so he devised a way to stitch the straw so as to make it flat when fastened to a broom handle. Shakers everywhere began to make flat brooms, not only for their own use, but to sell to outsiders.

A major obstacle to cleaning floors was heavy furniture. Moving beds in particular posed a problem, so the Shakers invented bed rollers so they could easily move beds to clean beneath them.

Doing laundry for a community of several hundred people was a daunting task. In 1858, Brother David Parker at tire-Canterbury, NH., community designed a steam powered "wash mill." It sped up the laundering process and made the work easier for the sisters assigned to laundry duty.

The Shakers didn't often patent their inventions. but the washing machine was an exception. Not only was it patented, Brother Parker's design won a medal at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Copies of his wash mill were sold W several big hotels.

Shaker herbs and plant seeds were' sought after because of their consistency and high quality. The Shakers were the first to put seeds in small printed pack-ages for home use. The seeds were sold through stores and by mail order.

The Shakers also invented a spike wheel that produced evenly space holes l; for seeds, and it automatically planted seeds, too. It reduced planting time by about fifty percent.

Poplar trees were abundant in some areas, but the wood wasn't useful for either building or burning. The Shakers, !however, found it was an excellent material for baskets. One of the brothers !devised a machine to split lengths of poplar wood into thin splints that could the he used for basket weaving. And Shaker baskets became another product the World" demanded.



Shaker woodworkers developed a machine for making uniform barrel staves, and another for making broom handles of varying lengths.

The Shakers cared for one another, especially the elderly and those that were sick. They invented several things to make life easier for those who were ill. For example, they invented the tilting or adjustable hospital bed. And most Shaker communities had wheelchairs for the elderly and incapacitated. They were rocking chairs with large wheels akin to today's wheelchairs, and a stabilizing wheel or wheels in the back. The finger splint was a Shaker invention, and they created pill making machines for producing herbs and plant potions.

Only a few brothers took care of household chores. The rest were farmers, so they invented several machines to make their jobs easier, including a hillside plow, a horse drawn mowing machine and a thresher machine. Brother Hewitt Chandler of the Sabbathday Lake, Maine, community created the Maine Mower. which mowed hay fields more efficiently than other available equipment. And Brother Daniel Baird at the North Union, Ohio, community developed the revolving harrow used to breakup soil for planting.

And while brothers were busy in the fields, sisters tended to the feeding the community. Feeding several hundred people, three times a day, seven days a week was a daunting task, so naturally invention played a major role.

Cooking on an institutional scale presented its own problems. While a housewife might cook one roast or chicken or bake one pie, Shaker sisters had to prepare dozens, sometimes 60 pies a day. To help with them, for example, They invented a double rolling pin, and it's claimed they could roll twice as much pastry dough in half as much time, verses a conventional rolling pin. Peeling apples is no easy task, so a screw-based apple peeler was created to strip the peel from an apple in a matter of seconds. Once peeled, the apples were cut into quarters using an apple splitter, a spike like device invented by Brother Sanford Russell at South Union, Ky.

 Emeline Hart at the Canterbury, New Hampshire, community designed the Revolving Oven. Numerous pies could be baked simultaneously in this oven.

Sisters also invented the slotted spoon, pea shellers, a cheese press, bread kneading machines and even a potato washer. In 1796, the Shakers produced one of America's first cookbooks.

The Shakers even improved on articles of clothing. One of them, the woolen hooded cloak was a staple of every sister’s wardrobe to protect them from the cold blasts of winter. As with the broom, they sold these to the outside world to make money to buy supplies they needed.

Shaker communities attracted some of the best craftspeople and cooks but unfortunately they believed in celebacy. And that didn’t help their future.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  La Belle Epoque in the 2020 Spring Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Antiques or Not—That is the Question

QUESTION: How do I find out if items I have are really antiques?  Do dealers need pictures to come look at my pieces? How do I find honest reliable ones?



ANSWER: Many people ask themselves these same questions. Unless you’re an antique lover and collector, it’s often hard to figure out what’s an antique and what isn’t. First, let’s tackle what is an antique.

To anyone who browses antique shops these days the question "What is an antique?" seems to have many answers. Side by side with ancient-looking furniture and old-fashioned china, you may find souvenir spoons and colorful carnival glass. The problem bewilders not only buyers but dealers, too.

In 1930 the U.S. Government ruled that objects had to be at least a 100 old to be classified as antiques, so they could be admitted duty free into the U.S. But that was a legislative  tax decision. Since then antiques have often been defined as objects made before 1830.

Here in the U.S., dealers and collectors count among their antiques both items made by machine as well as those made by hand. Most of these are later than 1830. That date does, however, serve as a dividing line between the age of craftsmanship and the machine age. As the 21st century moves on, objects from the early 20th century are now reaching the 100-year mark, thus technically making them antiques. But if you talk to a high-end antique dealer, he or she will probably consider them just used goods.

A fine antique comes with a provenance or written pedigree. This isn’t just what your Aunt Milly says is an antique. It’s proven to be one through a detailed history of its creation and ownership.

But while the personal associations of heirlooms add to their interest, they can’t be relied upon to place their date and source. Not every old piece has a pedigree or a maker’s mark or label, but every one has characteristics that identify it which make it valuable to someone else. The secret of where and when and by whom it was made is in its material, its design, and its workmanship. So an antique is what the collector knows or perceives it to be. Nothing more.

Collectibles are items that usually have a less-than-100-year history, although not always. You could collect Limoge porcelain boxes from the 18th century and consider them collectibles. But for the most part, collectibles are objects from popular culture—old detergent boxes with the soap powder still in them, old bottles, old souvenirs.

So begin by determining, if you can, what it is that you have that’s an antique or just a collectible. Do Image searches on Google for your items and see if any photos come up that are like what you have or similar, then click on the photos to go to the Web sites where the photos have been posted to learn more about the item. Go to your public library and check out an antique encyclopedia or other books that have pictures of antiques. See if you can find objects like yours.

Once you have a good idea of whether an object is an antique or collectible, take some good digital photos of it. And, yes, dealers really appreciate seeing a photo or two of an item before they’ll make the trek to your place to see it. This applies even more to dealers you may find online. Take an overall shot, perhaps several from different angles, as well as a couple shots of details—carvings, signatures, hardware, etc. If you’re going to make the rounds of local dealers, you’ll want to get your photos printed. Small 4x6-inch photos will do nicely.



Asking where you can find honest reliable dealers indicates that you assume all antique dealers are scoundrels. They’re not. In fact, most are honest, hard-working business people. They’re in business to make money, so don’t expect that any of them will pay top dollar for your pieces. The most you can expect to get is half the value, on a good day.

One way to tell a dealer who may be less than honest is to see if the pieces in his or her shop are priced. An antique store is a retail business and all retailers price their items for sale. A dealer who doesn’t price their items may be planning on taking advantage of you—deciding what to charge for an item on how you’re dressed or how much you seem to know about antiques. Avoid shops that are piled high with goods in which the shopkeeper says, “Have a look around and let me know what you like, and I’ll give you my best price.”

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  the Industrial Age n the 2020 Winter Edition, "The Wonders of the Industrial Age," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Marriages Made in Hell

QUESTION: I have inherited a cookie jar from my mother's estate, our family home outside Philadelphia. The cookie jar is marked on the bottom “Goldilocks #405 Patent Pending.” I see on the Internet that there are plenty of these jars in the marketplace. However, my cookie jar doesn't look like the one's I found with this mark. The design I have is slightly different. After a bit of research, I wondered if my version is a 'blank' that was simply uniquely printed or perhaps its just a rip off reproduction.  I have no clue. Can you help me solve this mystery?

ANSWER: What you have is the bottom of a Goldilocks cookie jar and the top of a Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar. The former was made by the Regal China Company and the latter by the Hull Pottery. Goldilocks has a blue hood and a little bear while Little Red Riding Hood has a red hood and a basket of flowers. The tops and bottoms of these cookie jars, though different in design, are interchangeable. What must have happened is that the top of the Goldilocks jar got broken and someone replaced it with the top of a Little Red Riding Hood jar. In antiques, we call this a marriage.

As in real life marriages where both people must work together to form a perfect union, antiques marriages can be either really good or terribly bad.

In the world of antiques, marriages are somewhat of a curse, especially when it comes to furniture. Here, a dealer joins together two different pieces of furniture worth significantly less than the original to form one piece that could be worth much more than the original. Novice antiques collectors could easily be fooled into spending more for a married piece than it’s actually worth.


Some unscrupulous antique dealers would no doubt try to pass off a married piece as an original while others marry parts together and literally make antiques. This is especially prevalent in the middle market where profit margins aren’t as high in the fine antiques one. This is especially true of antique furniture from the 17th to the 19th century. However, pieces made during this time often came in sections.

Back then, transporting large pieces of furniture was difficult. Pieces had to be transported in carts, and they had to be light enough that a small team of horses could pull them and two men could lift and carry them. So cabinetmakers produced furniture in pieces so that it could be easily transported and then assembled on site.

Of course, furniture that can be easily assembled is just as easy to disassemble. This meant that the end user could easily replace a broken or worn-out part of a piece of furniture without having to buy a new one. For example, if the table top splintered, the owner could simply keep the base and have a new top made. These combinations of old and new became the first married pieces of furniture.
But how does a novice collector know when a piece is a marriage? The more knowledgeable a collector is, the less chance he or she will have of getting taken.

Marriages are often easy to spot. First, look for any clash of styles. Cabinetmakers would not have combined furniture styles since most used style books to help them fashion their pieces. Second, check to see if there are any unusual proportions. Does one part seem larger than it should be? Third, does the wood used to make the piece match. While some cabinetmakers used less expensive wood for the frames, most used better wood for the exterior. Fourth, is the overall finish even. If not, this means parts of the piece have been finished at different times, such as a new table top. And finally, does the hardware match. Unless the owner couldn’t replace drawer and cabinet pulls with the same style, all the hardware on a piece should match.

Unfortunately, antiques marriages are contrived to deceive the buyer. A lot of this goes on in England where the market for antiques is always hot. Visitors especially usually have no idea what they’re buying and usually fall for marriage or even fake antiques.

One of the most common marriages is in 17th and 18th-century secretaries. The bottom desk is often married to a bookcase top from a different secretary. These two pieces may be orphans and when matched often look fairly good together. With the price of 18th-century secretaries in the six figure or more range, it’s no wonder that dealers try this. The easiest way to spot a marriage of this sort is to check the backboards. Those on the top and bottom must match, including nails. The quality of the wood must also be the same.

For chests and highboys, comparing a drawer from the top with one from the bottom should reveal the same dovetailing—all of which cabinetmakers did by hand—as well as linings.

Another popular marriage is an antique wrought iron sewing machine base that’s married to an antique table top. While this may look quite fine, it has little value.

But antiques marriages aren’t limited to furniture, although that’s where most of them occur. As with this cookie jar, like fitting pieces of ceramics or glassware can be married together. This usually falls into tops for bottoms as well as lids to jars and other containers.

Not so honest antiques dealers can deceive customers in many ways. A newer painting of a scene done in an old style can be mounted in an antique frame, for example, then sold as an antique.

But the most common marriages occur in higher end furniture where a piece that may not have sold for much or not at all is married to one that together forms a different piece that can sell for a whole lot. Don’t be fooled. Do your homework. And ask plenty of questions. The more you ask, the better chance of tripping up an unscrupulous dealer.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  the Industrial Age n the 2020 Winter Edition, "The Wonders of the Industrial Age," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Going Retro

QUESTION: I recently purchased a one arm chair that has a metal stamp that says “The B.L. Marble Chair Company, Bedford, Ohio.” It’s a cool mid-century design and is walnut and leather. Do you know anything about this chair and what it may have been used for?

ANSWER:  Barzilla L. Marble founded the B.L. Marble Chair Co. in 1894, after working at several other chair comp. His grandfather operated a chair factory in Marbletown, New York, and others in his family likewise made chairs, so it was natural for Marble to do so. He formed a brief partnership with A.L. Shattuck in 1885, but struck out on his own nine years later.

His company produced fine wooden chairs made for comfort and elegance that were made to last. Up until 1910, it produced chairs for the home, but during World War I, Marble added a division to make wooden aircraft propellers for the military.

By 1921. Marble’s company had outgrown its small wooden buildings and construction began on new brick buildings which had more than four acres of floor space. After Marble died in 1932,  A. D. Pettibone became president of the company and part owner. In 1953 Pettibone sold his interest in the Marble Chair Company to a group of local investors. Eventually, another man, also named Pettibone but not related to the first, bought the company, and it became extremely successful.



The company produced one-arm “modern” chairs most likely in the mid-60s under the second Pettibone owner. Furniture makers intended one-arm chairs, both originally in the 1870s and then in the 1960s as chairs to be placed in a corner. Today, most people would refer to these 1960's chairs as “retro” in style.

But exactly does retro mean? According to the Oxford University Press Dictionary, it means,”imitative of a style from the recent past.” Retro is a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, most likely from the 1940s through the 1960s. Currently, eBay offers over 468,000 different retro items.

People born between the 1940 and 1950 became teenagers during the 1950s and 1960s. And because those two periods provide memories for many of them, anything retro is in, whether it’s furniture, accessories, clothing, and collectibles, especially those related to the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Life in the 1950s was conservative, but changes were about to take place. Such innovations as Velcro, Tang, frozen foods, transistor radios, Frisbees and the hula-hoop began to appear. Bill Haley and the Comets rocked around the clock while jukeboxes filled every burger joint and ice cream parlor with the sounds of the young.

Furniture and accessories, especially the ubiquitous pole lamp, featured streamlined styling in   avocado and gold. By 1957 there were 47 million T.V. sets in America’s homes, four times the number of seven years before. Families began to watch T.V. shows like “I Love Lucy” incessantly. They even ate in front of the T.V., thus necessitating the invention of the T.V. tray and comfortable casual furniture without frills.

Later on in the 1960s, the space race captured everyone’s attention as astronauts walked on the Moon and teens danced the twist to the music of Chubby Checker and sang along to Beatles’ tunes. More innovations such as lava lamps and electric knives caught on eventually providing the retro movement with lots of collectibles.

Coming up in #TheAntiquesAlmanac in October will be a special edition dedicated to the Retro style. In the meantime, enjoy the 2020 Winter Edition with the theme “The Wonders of the Industrial Age.”

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 24,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about vintage games in the 2019 Holiday Edition, "Games, Games, and More Games," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The American Look of Danish Modern

QUESTION:  My wife’s mother bought this piece of furniture around 1976.  It seemed to be an antique back then. The label on the back says it’s from Meier & Pohlman Furniture Company.   I looked online and haven’t found anything quite like it with a curved top. I’m interested in knowing more about this piece?  Can you lead me in the right direction?

ANSWER: I can do better than lead you in the right direction. I can take you there. But first, you need to know more about what style your cabinet is. This china cabinet is a form of Danish Modern, an American version in fact, that was originally part of a suite of dining furniture. The Meier & Pohlman Furniture Company made it in the early 1950s.

Danish modern is a style of minimalist furniture and housewares from Denmarkthat originated with the Danish design movement. In the 1920s, Kaare Klint embraced the principles of Bauhaus modernism in furniture design, creating clean, pure lines based on an understanding of classical furniture craftsmanship coupled with careful research of materials, proportions and the requirements of the human body. With designers such as Arne Jacobsen and Hans Wegner and associated cabinetmakers, Danish furniture thrived from the 1940s through the 1960s. Adopting mass-production techniques and concentrating on form rather than just function, Finn Juhl contributed to the style's success.

Adopting the Functionalist trend of abandoning ornamentation in favor of form, he nonetheless maintained the warmth and beauty inherent in traditional Danish cabinet making, as well as high-quality craftsmanship and materials. His use of teak wood added warmth to his pieces.



The development of modern Danish furniture owes much to the collaboration between architects and cabinetmakers. Cabinetmaker A. J. Iversen, who had successfully exhibited furniture from designs by architect Kay Gottlob at the Paris World Exhibition in 1925, encouraged further partnerships. In 1927, with a view to encouraging innovation and stimulating public interest, the Danish Cabinetmakers Guild organized a furniture exhibition in Copenhagen which occurred annually until 1967. It fostered collaboration between cabinetmakers and designers, creating a number of lasting partnerships including those between Rudolph Rasmussen and Kaare Klint, A. J. Iversen and Ole Wanscher, and Erhard Rasmussen and Børge Mogensen.

Following World War II, Danish designers and architects believed that design could be used to improve people's lives. Particular attention was given to creating affordable furniture and household objects that were both functional and elegant. The fruitful cooperation ensued, combining Danish craftsmanship with innovative design. Initially, the furniture was handmade, but recognizing that their work would sell better if prices were reduced, the designers soon turned to factory production. Interest in Danish Modern in the United States began when Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. from the Museum of Modern Art purchased some items for the Fallingwater home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This ultimately led to mass-production in the United States, too.

The scarcity of materials after the Second World War encouraged the use of plywood. By the 1940s, the development of new techniques led to the mass production of bent plywood designs by Hans Wegner and Børge Mogensen. They used beechwood for their furniture frames with a teak overlay.

From the beginning of the 1950s, American manufacturers obtained licenses for the mass production of Danish designs while maintaining high standards of craftsmanship. Later, they altered their designs to suit American tastes and introduced American parts  to reduce costs. One of these furniture manufacturers was the Meier and Pohlmann Furniture Company of St. Louis, Missouri.



From 1891 until 1959, the Meier and Pohlman Company manufactured fine wooden furniture. The company's original factory stood close to the Mississippi River, on Second Street. By 1874, when John Meier and John Pohlmann founded their company, lumber yards, saw mills, and other woodworking establishments already crowded this area. Here they had easy access to the rafts of white pine logs floated down the river from Wisconsin and Minnesota. The depletion of the northern forests, however, forced St. Louis furniture makers turned to other sources of wood by the beginning of the 20th century. Meier and Pohlmann, for instance, increasingly relied on rail shipments of oak from Missouri and the Carolinas.

The firm's relocation to Fourteenth Street in St. Louis in 1891 reflected the general westward movement of people and industry in the neighborhood while its tremendous success mirrored the growth of the furniture industry in St. Louis at that time. By 1906, the city ranked first in the country in terms of the volume of furniture produced and its market extended across much of the American West. Initially, Meier and Pohlmann recruited skilled cabinetmakers from Germany to work in their factory. The sons and grandsons of these original workers comprised a large part of the labor force well into the 20th century. Contracts with Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward gave the company a national market for its fine dining room furniture after 1938.

Unfortunately, a dramatic increase in shipping rates and a shift in the public’s interest to the new Mediterranean style, ultimately led to the company's closure in 1959.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 24,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about vintage games in the 2019 Holiday Edition, "Games, Games, and More Games," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Locating Parts for Antique Furniture

QUESTION: I have a Chippendale mahogany bookcase/secretary that is missing a finial. Do you have any idea where I can locate one?

ANSWER: Finding parts for pieces of antique furniture can be a quest in itself. But before you decide to restore a piece, you first have to know how old it is. A piece of furniture dating before 1830 is considered a fine antique. As such, it has special rules for restoration. First, you cannot replace more than 60 percent of it without it being declassified as an antique. Replacing anything on it will definitely lower the value. In fact, doing any sort of restoration usually hurts the value, unless it’s to restore the integrity of the piece.

Restoring furniture made after 1830 is another matter. A piece must be at least 60 percent original to have any value. If more has been done to it, then it's just another piece of used furniture.

As time goes on, even pieces dating from the mid-19th century will be scrutinized closer when it comes to restoration. However, generally the fine antique crowd tends to avoid anything Victorian, looking upon it as used furniture. Replacing parts and restoring a piece of Victorian furniture can actually enhance its value. But the replacement has to be of the finest quality and the restoration done right.

The date when this bookcase/secretary was made wasn’t specified. If it were an authentic 18th-century Chippendale piece, replacing that finial would have to be done by a professional cabinetmaker and restorer. This could cost several thousand dollars, but when the piece may be worth half a million in the first place, that’s a drop in the antique bucket. The cabinetmaker or joiner would have to hand-carve the missing finial to create an exact match to the original.

If—and that’s a BIG if—a replacement could be found from an identical bookcase/secretary, that would also work. But since 18th-century cabinetmakers all customized details like finials on their pieces, the chance of finding one is a million to one. The only way to make sure is to find a bookcase/secretary from the same cabinetmaker that’s beyond restoration and use it for parts.

On the other hand, if the piece were from a later period, which is probably is, it may be possible to find a finial floating around in a antique or junk shop. But you can’t just go to a home center and pick one off the shelf.

The first place to start looking is in antique shops that specialize in selling furniture. This could take years of browsing. But parts have been known to service in the least possible places.

You can also turn to a cabinetmaker who specializes in making replacement parts for furniture. This, again, could cost a bit since each part has to be handcrafted and that takes time.

Finally, there area a number of places on the Internet to find replacement parts. A lot of them sell mostly replacement hardware, but some, like antique furniture repair and refinishing companies, do make parts to order. McLean’s Refinishing, of Watkinsville, Georgia, stocks old furniture parts and has access to reproduction and replacement parts.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 24,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about antique clocks in the Fall 2019 Edition, "It's That Time Again," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.

Preservation vs. Conservation

QUESTION: I have several pieces of antique furniture that need some tender loving care, but I’m not sure how to go about it. Can you explain the difference between preservation and conservation? And can you give me some tips on how I can take care of my pieces?


ANSWER: Preservation involves keeping an object from destruction and seeing to it that it’s not irreversibly altered or changed. In conservation, on the other had, the goal is to preserve the maximum amount of the original material, in as unaltered a condition as possible.

Furniture conservation and restoration can be divided into two general areas—structure and finish. Structure generally relates to wood---solid, joined, and veneered. The finish of furniture can be painted or varnished.



Antiques restoration can be an arduous process if the goal is complete authenticity. This is particularly true for museum conservators. For them, authentic material is the actual original material of the object. For example, a chair with its original upholstery, even if it is faded and shredded, is authentic for the conservator and possesses historic value even though it may not be exhibitable. The same chair can be "restored" and looking as it did when new, with replacement fabric copied from the original weave and colors, and upholstered according to the known design of that particular piece of furniture.

Some pieces of furniture, especially those constructed of harder woods, such as walnut, mahogany, maple, oak, or cherry, may only need to have their surface finish preserved. In the case of furniture made of these woods, there may be enough of the original finish left to restore the piece rather than refinish it.

Before doing anything, study your piece. Is the finish pretty much intact? Does the piece have a nice patina? Is the piece more than 100 years old? If you answered yes to even one of these questions, then you should do your best to preserve the original finish of your piece.

The first step in preservation is cleaning. Furniture gets dirty, even grimy over time. Before you can apply a new finish, you need to get rid of all the accumulated dirt and grease that often make it difficult to tell what kind of wood the piece of furniture is made of. Grime can also hide the fine lines of inlay and marquetry. Believe it or not, using lemon oil, a popular furniture polish, can do more harm than good. Since its made of a light petroleum oil and some paraffin wax, the wood doesn’t absorb it. Instead, it acts as a surface dust catcher.

One of the best products for cleaning wood, especially furniture, is Murphy’s Oil Soap. Today, it’s also in a spray bottle, but in case you can’t find it that way, you can make your own cleaning solution by mixing a capful of Murphy’s in a spray bottle of water. For this, you can use any empty spray cleaner bottle, as long as you wash it out thoroughly first. Since water will loosen any glued joint, and also tends to raise the grain of the wood, you don’t’ want to use very much. An old washcloth will do quite well for cleaning.

Spray the Murphy’s on a damp washcloth and then rub it on the surface of the furniture. Rinse the cloth when it gets to dirty. Have a second wet, but wrung out, washcloth ready to wipe off the Murphy’s Oil solution, wringing the cloth nearly dry after every few wipes. You can also use a green scruby cloth, sold in Dollar Stores, if there’s hard to remove grime. A stiff-bristle brush will allow you to get the dirt out of carved and turned areas. The secret is to clean only a small area at a time–one leg of a chair, one part of a chest, and so on. After you clean an area, wipe it dry with an old face towel. Be sure to wash out all your cloths or use others as you progress, especially on a large piece of furniture. After you have finished cleaning your piece of furniture, give it a final wipe with a clean cotton rag and set it aside to dry for 24 hours.

All this cleaning may cause joints to loosen, so be sure to check the structural integrity of your piece before applying a new finish. If joints need to be tightened or reglued, do so before applying a new finish.

Now you’re ready to apply a new finish. You can either use plain tung oil or a product like Minwax® Water-Based WoodSheen® which is a water-soluble mixture of furniture finish and stain that comes in six colors. For a piece that’s got lots of scratches or marks, it’s best to choose a stain color that complements the wood’s original finish.

The final step is polishing the entire piece using a prepared wax like Minwax, which comes in light and dark varieties. Obviously, use the light for woods like oak or cherry and the dark for woods like walnut or mahogany. Apply the wax with a piece of soft cotton cloth like an old athletic sock and after 30 minutes, polish the surface with an old face towel. One coat should do it, but for tabletops, apply two coats of wax.

Rub off the first coat with 0000 steel wool, then apply the second and polish with the towel. The more coats of wax you apply, the more water resistant the top will become. A light polishing once or twice a year will keep your piece in great condition.

There are no short cuts or time savers to this entire process. The work can be slow and at times tedious, but the results are worth it.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 24,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about antique clocks in the Fall 2019 Edition, "It's That Time Again," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.