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Author Archives: Jack Plane
Picture This CXXIII
An old friend in Bury St Edmunds was interested in purchasing this bureau (figure 1) which came up for auction (twice in the past two weeks), in nearby Colchester in Essex. I wasn’t able to reply to him before the … Continue reading
Inferior Imports from the Far East
Cheaply made commodities from China, India and Taiwan etc. are not a twentieth-century phenomenon. Early trade with the East during the sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries introduced Britain and Europe to hitherto unimaginable treasures: Brass, porcelain and silk, for example, were formerly … Continue reading
Picture This CXXII
This described by a dealer this week: “… drawers with original brass escutcheon plates and swan-neck bail handles.” Posted, not to name and shame, but to train the eye. Jack Plane
Old Hardware Catalogues
Poole Waite & Co Ltd. has a number of old hardware catalogues and journals for sale on their web site. The majority of the catalogues appear to be for furniture brasses etc. These late catalogues can make handy reference material … Continue reading
The Rake’s Progress
The country round here is now officially in drought: It’s been the driest April on record and we’ve had only a third of the average rainfall so far this year. There’s been no grass of any worth in the paddocks … Continue reading
Picture This CXXI
A dealer described this item of furniture as a “narrow Georgian mahogany and oak hanging corner cabinet.” What say you sleuths? Fig. 1. Timeless combination of mahogany and oak. Fig. 2. No weight, could it be a reformed alcoholic’s drinks … Continue reading
The Campaign Trail I
My good friend, Simon Clarke, of Christopher Clarke Antiques, emailed me over the weekend with details of an interesting campaign table he has at the moment (figure 1). Fig. 1. Mahogany and inlaid campaign table, circa 1790. (Christopher Clarke Antiques) … Continue reading
The Butler did it.
Wood has been used since time immemorial for making such things as rudimentary sticks for whacking animate and inanimate things with, to shelters and furniture etc. But wood really came into its own in the mid-nineteenth-century for creating the most … Continue reading
Posted in Distractions
Tagged ash, balsa, birch, Godwin Meade Pratt Swifte, larch, mahogany, screw, spruce, walnut
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Quote of the Week
[…] Thomas Chippendale. His designs reached both sides of the Atlantic […][1] Jack Plane [1] Nichols House Museum, Boston.
Chippendale: The Man and the Myth
Whilst the Chippendale 300 exhibition is still current at Leeds City Museum, Thomas Chippendale is also being celebrated across the Atlantic this month. A lecture, Chippendale: The Man and the Myth will be hosted by the New England Historic Genealogical … Continue reading
