Antique shops are like boxes of chocolates… you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes they’re time machines with pieces that connect a client and their house with a long distant period, while at other times they’re like a puzzle box where someone finds that one unique piece that fits just perfectly and makes a room complete.
It all starts with the pieces. You’ve got to figure out a piece’s style and age and provenance, sometimes at the exact time you’re evaluating how it might fit into your inventory and whether or not your customers will like it. Then, if you buy it, that’s where the fun begins! Now you’ve got to figure out how you’ll showcase it… will it be on its own or will it be part of a period vignette or one that focuses on style? What’s a fair price and is there a designer who’s been looking for something like it, or is it simply a piece you can’t resist and you just know once it’s in the shop someone will like it as much as you do? Believe it or not, that's pretty exciting stuff!
As a piece of furniture, a chest of drawers or a table lamp or a set of chairs must of course be functional, in that they do what they were designed for. But functional isn’t enough… form matters. As anyone who’s ever visited a government office or college dorm knows, functionality and form don’t always go together. I’m pretty sure that we all know people for whom form and functionality are on different planes which never seem to intersect!
But for those who seek both form and functionality as they furnish their homes, antique shops occupy a unique space. They typically have pieces whose form and functionality have been time tested, often over many decades or longer - otherwise they'd never make it to be antiques... What’s more, the pieces often have stories behind them. Whether it’s a period Louis XV Commode or a mirror from the Bunny Mellon estate or a nickel plated brass cross from Ethiopia, the pieces you find in antique shops bring a bit of history with them as they help fill out a room… and often act as great conversation pieces to boot!
So the next time you walk into an antique shop, take a look around and imagine the history of the pieces you see about you. How many people have looked into that Louis-Philippe period mirror and seen their reflections over the previous 150 years? Imagine 100 years of bottles of French wine being passed from person to person on that trestle table. What kinds of stories played themselves out over the last century under the glow of light from that 19th century Italian crystal chandelier? Antique shops connect the past with the present all the while making homes more elegant, more beautiful or simply more complete. Unlike a museum, antique shops combine form and function with history to brighten the lives of people as they go about their daily lives…
An exquisite, richly carved Italian wooden bench with upholstered seat, cabriole legs and gorgeous cross stretcher. Circa 1880.
Just how many thousands of people rested themselves on this
beautiful bench over the last 130 years?
Vintage Silver and Gold Painted and Delicately Carved
Tree-Shaped Base Console Table with Marble Top. 20th Century.
One wonders how long it took the craftsman to create these delicate but very strong tables.
A 19th Century Italian Walnut Wood Credenza / Buffet, Richly
Carved with Two Drawers over Two Doors and Bracket Feet.
Oh the delights this credenza must have held! Credenzas, originally, with their heavy wood and locking doors typically held the food of the master of the house... but only after it had been successfully tasted by the official taster, ensuring that the master would not be poisoned.
An Exquisite French 18th Century with 19th Century Movement
Carved Wood Wall Clock Signed on the Face By Gilles L’Aîné, Horloger du Roy
(King's Clockmaker), A Paris.
Given that this clock was made by the king's clockmaker, it no doubt gave the time to many of 19th century France's most important politicians or businessmen and perhaps even a few aristocrats.
A 19th Century Walnut Wood Swiss French Stretchered Center
Table with Single Drawer.
This table would have looked equally at home in a French kitchen or a Swiss artisan's shop.
A Pair of 19th Century French Louis XVI Wingback Chairs with
Good Early Paint and Nicely Carved Frame, Including Rosettes on the Knees and
Guilloche Frieze on the Skirt. Fluted Legs.
These chairs look like they could have been sitting in a courtier's room in any chateau. Imagine the intrigues they would have seen!
A Pair of Italian Early 19th Century Crystal Chandeliers
With Wooden Central Column, Multiple Faceted Crystals and Swoop Gilded Arms.
It's not hard to imagine the formal balls or wedding receptions that might have been illuminated by these beautiful chandeliers with the candlelight dancing off the
crystals before electricity was available.
An Italian 19th Century Painted Poplar Wood Two-Drawer Chest
with Cabriole Legs, Nicely Scrolled Skirt and Carved Drawers as well as
Discreet Carving on the Side Posts.
What secrets have the drawers of this chest held? Records of political intrigues, lost love
letters from a secret admirer or simple recipes handed down from Grandmother?
A Swedish Nude Painting
For the sake of the model one can only hope that this painting was done in June or July, as those are the only two months of the year where Sweden's average temperature even breaks 70 degrees!
An Italian 18th Century Dark Stained Pine Wood Bench with
Richly Carved Back and
Medallion and Tapered Legs.
From lovers whispering sweet nothings to parents scolding their children, the man in this carving has no doubt overheard a lifetimes worth of stories that brought about everything from unabashed happiness to tears of sadness and everything in between.
A Swedish Early 19th Century Baroque Style Table / Desk of
Bleached Wood and Darker Painted Accents, Wonderfully Carved Support and Cross
Stretcher.
Legal documents, corporate alliances, political intrigues, one can almost picture this desk at the center of a smoke filled room with men hammering their fists on it as they argue about who will carry the day. In the end, the table outlasted every argument.
Silver Color Framed Herbariums from Sweden, 1930's.
Herbariums such as these make wonderful decorative pieces, but for much of the 18th and 19th century they played an important role in the study of plant taxonomy.
An Exquisite Pair of 19th Century Italian Gilded Candlestick
Table Lamps.
After a century of lighting dining rooms with candles, these candlesticks have been reinvented as lamps and no doubt will continue to brighten days for many years to come.
A Pair of Italian Carved Lime Stone "Panisci"
Figures (Followers of the God Pan, Half Children, Half Goats), Playing Musical
Instruments on Custom Wood Bases.
Panisci figures, not to be confused with cherubs, were said to divert attention from serious matters by blowing their horns and causing "little panics". Luckily these two don't have their horns with them.
A French Early 19th Century Painted Wood Mirror with Floral Carving
from the
Bunny Mellon Estate.
This mirror started its reflective journey in France then found its way to the home of a family that included heirs to the Mellon and Warner Lambert fortunes. Imagine the smiles, frowns and primping that were reflected in its four piece glass.
An English Early 19th Century Painted Wood Five Drawer Chest with Two Smaller Drawers over Three Larger Ones, Geometrical Patterns and Bracket Feet.
Over the centuries this chest no doubt held countless winter garments and socks to keep the wet blustery English winter at bay... but the locks suggest that at times it may very well
have held things a bit more valuable!
A Pair of 19th Century Painted Wood Mirrored Screens.
What activities might these screens have hidden? We'll leave that to your imagination...
An Italian Round Occasional Table With 18th Century Paw
Feet, Painted and Gilded Wooden Base Decorated with Carved Swags and 20th
Century "Sunflower" Top.
It's possible this table held more than a few morning Amaretto and coffees
as well one or two Billinis before Carnevale.
A Rustic Late 19th Century Large Size French Wooden Wine
Press.
Just let your imagination run wild with the thoughts of the endless array of spectacular French
wines this press might have been a part of creating.
A Spanish 19th Century Trunk Made of Leather Embossed with
Brass Nailheads Featuring Geometrical Patterns and Heart Shapes on the Sides
Surrounding the Handles. Bun Feet.
One can only imagine the Spanish wonders this trunk once held... fine Italian or a treasure of Spanish doubloons, or maybe just the toys from a long gone bittersweet youth...
An Italian 19th Century Painted Wood Buffet / Credenza with
Two Doors, Three Drawers, Beautifully Carved Details Including Guilloche Frieze
and Dovetailed Joints.
Imagine... over a century of seafood linguine, spaghetti & meatballs or baked lasagna this
credenza has kept warm. You can almost close your eyes and spell it...
A Pair of 18th Century Italian Wooden Armchairs with Cane
Seats and Backs,
Tapered Legs, Scrolled Arms and Cushions.
One can almost imagine the conversations these chairs must have overheard as
they sat on the tiled patio of some Mediterranean villa...
An Italian 18th Century Wooden Console Trestle Table / Desk
with Beautifully Shaped Sides.
No doubt, over its two plus centuries of life this table has been the setting for countless arrangements of flowers and perhaps even a wedding gift or two along the way.
A Wooden American chest from "Howe" Scale, From the Early
20th Century.
This chest no doubt greeted thousands of customers from the Howe Scale company that was incorporated in Vergennes, Vermont in 1856 and operated until 1961.
An Assortment of Ethiopian Crosses on Stands. Nickel Plated
over Brass. 20th Century.
Great care is taken in the making of these crosses, no surprise given some people believe the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the home of the Arc of the Covenant.
