People have always needed bedside tables … where else do you put your book and your glasses and, in the old days, your candle or oil lamp? The very earliest type that we have in stock here at Thakeham Furniture date from the mid 18th century, and take the form of a tray …

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  The fork of a mahogany tree for “flame”, or the curly “burr” found near the roots of walnut trees, form especially beautiful grain. Wide planks of this type of wood tend to warp and curl, so the technique of veneering allows it to be glued to more stable wood with less attractive grain, for results that …

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  Ormolu mountings are fine quality cast mounts typical of French or ‘French style’ antique furniture.  They were also used for the decorative mountings of clocks, lighting devices, and porcelain. Ormolu (from French or moulu, signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold to a mount cast …

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  There are two periods of English furniture when walnut was the most popular cabinet timber. The first, known as the ‘Early Walnut’ period dates from 1680 to about 1740, or sometime during the reign of George II, when the newly imported mahogany began to gain in popularity. Much prized by cabinetmakers for its strength …

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  The ships which worked the slave and spice trade between England, Africa and the West Indies sometimes came back to England without a cargo; however, ballast was needed to keep the ship on an even keel, and this was made up of readily available mahogany tree trunks: Swietenia mahogani, also called Spanish or Cuban …

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  One of the questions we are frequently asked is: what exactly is “country” furniture – what does the term mean? Strictly speaking, it refers to furniture made by country craftsmen, varying from purely functional pieces made by amateurs to expertly constructed and carved work based on the fine furniture made for the rich. Much …

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  One of the world’s oldest surviving wooden artefacts is a yew spear head, found in 1911 at Clacton-on-sea, Essex. It is estimated to be 450,000 years old. Yew wood is reddish brown (with whiter sapwood), and is very springy; the entire tree is poisonous – wood, bark, needles and seed. It was traditionally used …

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  As a furniture style, Regency has come to embrace a period from the 1790s to about 1830. Strictly, Regency means 1811-1820 which was the period the Prince of Wales (later George IV) acted as Regent during his father’s period of insanity. The Prince presided over the rebuilding of much of central London, with possibly …

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1. It’s good value Antique furniture is cheaper, in real terms, than it has been since the 1990s – most pieces have stayed roughly the same price for the last 15 years, while some, such as sets of dining chairs and the larger bits like tallboys and sideboards, have come well down in price. Antique …

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  English oak is a beautiful wood; it tends to have a fine and close grain, and hardens with age to an iron-like strength. England’s generally rich soil and its comparatively mild and moist climate have provided it with an abundance of trees ideal for use as timber. Medullary rays are a particularly characteristic feature …

Continue reading “English Oak – Run of the Mill?”