One could forgive many an individual for not having a rudimentary grasp of Roman numeration, but frankly, antiques dealers – especially those at the top of their game – should, if not fully conversant, be at least familiar with the Roman numerals for one, to at least four. Seemingly not…
An antique from the future? George the one-hundred-and-eleventh!
Georges the eleventh and one-hundred-and-eleventh both get a mention.
Perhaps this dealer followed county cricket…
A Georgian second eleven kit box?
Then there was the dealer (now deceased) who couldn’t separate the 1600s from the sixteenth-century and the 1700s from the seventeenth-century etc. etc.
And if you’re ever in an antique clock dealer’s shop with a few minutes to spare, ask him what’s going on with four O’clock.
Jack Plane (the oneth)
Pegs and 'Tails 
I’m continuing to fight WWIi at work. I’ve never worked out what happened to wars WWIa to Ih… Henry VIi also makes guest appearances!
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I feel like I should know who George the Elevend was…
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Wasn’t he the baker who is credited with the discovery of raising agents?
JP
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thus creating the bakers’ XIi
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A lot of tall case clocks have IIII instead of IV at the 4 o’clock position. Not sure why. However at the IX or 9 o’clock position they get it right.
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VIIII is occasionally used for 9 O’clock.
JP
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I remember the very “distinguished” antique dealer at a prestigious vetted show in Los Angeles who identified the wood on his furniture as “bois de roi”. I translated this (as he did apparently) as “kingwood”. I wonder what “bois de violette” is then?
W. Patrick Edwards, the curious cabinetmaker.
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Well, as we all know, Bois de Violette is a half decent perfume from Serge Lutens – though some may confuse it with Dalbergia cearensis.
JP
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Perhaps “a” through “h” were simply minor engagements. The whole Henry thing is going to take a little more time to work out, in my head. Did Henry VIi hold title to the Aquitaine or was that Henry 11? Common language, yes. But the numerical sequencing of monarchs is difficult for a Yank to grasp, especially those young Yanks who depend on their computers to do the spelling.
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I worked for a guy who designed a “Buffet Decor.” I guess he had never heard of a “Buffet a Deux Corps.”
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Too bad they didn’t employ the Shift key. “George !!!” reads much better.
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That’s Mother Tongue.
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As they say, “There are II kinds of people in this world, those that can read Roman numerals and those that can’t”.
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