Antiques~ If only they could talk!
So today while I was sorting some items to put on our website and bring to the shop, I came upon this little book. It immediately made me think about how precious it was and how precious our history is. It’s obvious that I absolutely love Antiques, having been in the business for a number of years now. I have always loved and have always collected them, which I guess is a passion I gained from my family. I grew up around a lot of beautiful antique pieces and work and was taught to honor and respect them. I am fortunate enough to have several family pieces in my collection and I definitely enjoy being the steward to them. Not every antique piece survives unfortunately and the older items are even harder to find which brings me to this little book, This little book is a survivor.
This book dates to 1776. That means that this book was printed in the year that our very country was formed and declared it’s independence. How amazing is that! 246 years this little book has survived. Can you imagine all that he has seen? I always like to imagine who owned this book? What did they do? How did this little book come to survive almost 247 years while so many others have been destroyed? I think the answer to that is someone bought it subsequently over and over again and those someone’s were people who appreciated antiquarian books, or just Antiques in general.
I like antique pieces a lot. I do tend to use them often in my designs as well as obviously selling them. I feel that antique pieces provide a certain warmth and tradition to a home that a modern piece of furniture just cannot duplicate. When I compare an antique, Victorian cabinet say to an IKEA one, that Victorian piece has a story to tell. The IKEA piece has no story to tell. The Victorian piece has seen over 100 years worth of birthday parties, anniversaries, fights, make ups, everything in between. If it could talk, the stories, it could tell! It is so important that we save, and protect these items for the future.
Most antique pieces were made by hand with very little mechanical involvement. They certainly were not mass-produced on an assembly line as furniture is today. They were very much so crafted of solid wood and while I do not agree with deforestation, some of these woods are rare, and can no longer be obtained. We must protect these pieces as they are some of the last remaining examples of fine antique woodworking.
I think old furniture such as the examples below, are just so stunning to look at it’s like functional art. They can easily become statement pieces in a room. Functional and beautiful.
I mean look at these!
High Victorian Walnut Cabinet and and Egyptian revival Ebonized wood cabinet dating from 1870s thru 1890s
Below are examples of Federal Period Furniture circa1780 to 1830
These are but just a few examples of a very vast timeline of antique furniture. Real older pieces, such as pieces from the 1400s or the 1500s or even the 1600s are much much more rare. There really are some time periods in history that have produced some classic gorgeous, furniture.
Visit images online of the Georgian, The federal period And of course the Victorian era. There are some great examples out there and often times you can pick these pieces up in shops, somewhat affordable, because the price of these items fluctuates as our demand for them changes. Remember, what happened when everyone wanted everything to be white and chippy? anything white and chippy was just gone and was very expensive to purchase. Now people give it away on Facebook marketplace. The pieces that I am speaking of here are true classics. They will last the test of time, and once purchased will not need to be sold as they will carry you through the years as they are true classic pieces. Remember classic does not go out of style.
If these pieces could all talk, I am sure they would have all kinds of stories. If you would like to have pieces in your home with history, then frequently visit your local antique and vintage market places. They are saving saving our historical pieces so that they may be passed on to future generations to appreciate.
Happy Shopping!