Beverly's Collection of Everything, Part 1, Living Room & Dining Room

My husband says I am constantly attempting to achieve my friend Beverly's collection.  Some would say she had too much stuff.  Not me.  I thought her house was perfect.   She had quite an eye for antiques.  She had a shop for many years, kept it open into her 70's, just so we could have a clubhouse to visit her.  That's according to my husband.  She also said we wouldn't come see her every week if she closed shop.     I was very sad when she passed away.  She played the role of my daughter's "in town" grandmother, and spent many years trying to get me to collect the "right stuff".  She turned up her nose at my Limoges handpainted plate collection--wasn't old enough.  That was true for my american brilliant cut glass collection also.  If it wasn't "period" she didn't want it.

I thought I would share these old photos I took of her house at her estate sale.  I wish I had the opportunity to take pictures before it all got priced and rearranged.  I am sharing just so you can see what an extensive collection is.  She would tell me to collect "3 to 5 of the best in the field" and then move on to another collection.

I'm not sure what was her biggest collection.  In space, it probably was the 300+ staffordshire dogs.

The Entryway

The house was on a hillside, so you entered on the top floor.  The entry was a long hallway, with a railing on the left side for the stairwell going downstairs.  I think there was a tiny chest to the right with a painting over it, but I don't have a picture of it.

Directly opposite the front door was this view.  The stuff on the table has changed.  The silver spoon warmer was there, and I think that one of the blue and white platters was in the empty plate holder.

Beautiful portraits, with a pair of child's chairs upholstered in coral, her favorite color.

The staircase held a large painting, along with the samplers going down the stairs.  Corner wash stands on the landing held pieces from her chinese export famille rose collection.

As you come in the front door, you can look down the staircase and see her sampler collection.

Another view coming up the stairs

Some of the samplers below.  They give you an idea of what she liked to collect.  She had a wash stand with Chinese porcelain on it.  It went together beautifully.

I think the one below was my favorite.   Isn't it sweet!  I love all the different varieties of alphabet.   It has a real biedermeier look to it.

The Living Room

 The living room was straight ahead coming from the entry way. You could enter from the left or right doorway.

Above the fireplace was a wonderful Adam period mirror.  The reflection of items in the mirror was after the first sale, and the items she had in the room were gone--except that mirror on the right.

On the left side of the fireplace is the period camelback chippendale sofa.  There are chests on each side of the fireplace.

There is a house sampler to the right of the sofa. To the left of the sofa is another chest. I always liked the lamp on the left.  It is one of a pair, antique porcelain.

These were used as a pair of lamp bases.  Aren't they fun. 

On the other side of the fireplace (which has lost its original  Adam mirror), is a Georgian chest.

The Georgian chest to the right of the fireplace was one of my favorites.  This is the room staged for the sale.

I love the patina on this.  The hardware looks original.

Collection of miniature portraits to the left of the secretary, and a collection of chinese export porcelain in the secretary.

She used the area to the left of the secretary to display her collection of miniature portraits, which you can see to the left.  You can see a few more below.  All of the items have a georgian look to them.

Miniature portraits and silhouettes

Beverly didn't like the doorway going to the dining room.  It was an easy fix for her.  She put her secretary in front of the doorway, and put a curtain on the other side.

Emptied of its contents, you can see the beautiful inlay on the slant front.

The federal mirror below was shown in a previous picture to the right of the secretary.  Note the eagle on the mirror. It is a recurring theme in antiques, and not just american antiques.

The wings had been damaged, I think shortened a bit.

 The bellflower design is pretty nice too.

Beverly had a number of items with eagles.  The mirror that is above this table.

This was a terra cotta piece that was supposed to come home with me as high bidder, but went home with a friend of the person holding the sale.

The eagle here had come home in a box in pieces.  Beverly put it together.
It wound up at Bonhams, and then came home with me.

Needlepoint with a stumpwork style eagle.

Back to the living room.  The center of the room had two wingbacks and a Martha Washington style chair.

Chair from living room

I apologize in advance for the next blurry photo.  I will have better photos of most of the items.

The back wall between the two doors had an amazing amount of collections.

The wingbacks in the foreground are covered in matelasse spreads that Beverly dyed with Rit, and made the slipcovers herself.

The display cabinet on the back wall is pictured here.

The wonderful shield back mirror with chain is from the late 1700's.  It was hanging above the cabinet.

Beverly liked these Victorian taxidermy birds.  This isn't the first diorama she has owned, but it's the one she kept the longest.

To the left and right of the large cabinet are two painted french slipper chairs.  They are covered in silk that looks like linen.   

Above the chairs were 4 prints, hand colored civil war battle scenes.

4 prints of Civil War

If you look at the photo on the cabinet, you can see a huge amount of child's silver cups.

Notice the silver baby/child cups.

Below is one of my favorites, repousse silver.

In the foreground, you can see tulips.  They are glass tulips, and Beverly would buy them whenever she spotted them at an estate sale.

The Dining Room
Moving on to the dining room, it was to the right of the living room.  Remember the covered up doorway?
This is what it looked like from the dining room.

Aren't the shutters clever.  It looks like another window!

The dining room was loaded with furniture even though it was only about 12x17.   She kept an interesting highboy (?) in there.  More chinese export was on top of it.  I love the way she had so much furniture in there, yet it all seemed to belong.  She liked the little worktables to the left of the chest.  They can be tucked anywhere.

 A chandelier with crystals seemed to be the perfect complement to the formal setting of period furniture

Antique chandelier

 The Sheraton settee vignette included a beautiful oil portrait, a tiny firescreen, and a small table with a courting mirror.  I always liked the way she put the courting mirror down low, as though it was a part of the "tablescene" she did on the table.

Sheraton settee.  The mess on it is table linens stored in the dining room.  

The firescreen to the left of the settee is quite charming.  It is a jacobean style needlepoint.  Sorry about the blurry photo.  

Antique firescreens were designed to shied your face from the hot fire while sitting next to the fireplace.

 An unusual mirror to find is a courting mirror.  They are actually quite small--see the photograph above to get the scale.  This one is perhaps only 12-14" tall.  Charming!   Sorry, I didn't get this one.  (all items were silent bids)

I hope you have enjoyed what I have posted so far.  I will continue this in another post so you can see the anatomy of a collection, and how one person's interest could weave such a lovely home.

Swedish Empire Neoclassic Mirror

I purchased a mirror today--to add to my mirror collection... and post purchase, thought I'd do a bit of research on my new treasure.

The mirror is Empire, which can be confused with Biedermeier as they're both very neoclassic. Empire basically started under Napoleon, and influenced styles across Europe and the U.S. in the early 1800's.  I was going to write up an article on the origins of Empire, but thought that this website did a nice job:  Rupert Cavendish --check it out after you read my blog, of course!

Usually when you think (French) Empire, you think of furniture that can sometimes be over the top with all kinds of gilding and ormolu.   Some examples I found on the internet that aren't too far over the top, and ones I like:

This mirror sold for $200 in 2010.  The mirror itself was replaced, hence the bargain price. (where was I? Wow!)
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/7042509

This is one at Sothebys,

This one is Italian.  See how varied these are in origin?  Don't you love everything in the picture!
Sothebys.com

Here's one at Christies.

Sold for $454 in 2007
Christies.com

All of the ones above have gilt ormolu on them.  It's a feature in my limited world that always makes me think French or Italian.

Christies had another one I really liked.  The mirror was really plain, a square.  I love the cherub wrestling with the lion.

Lion and Cherub! $1,593 in 2009. Christies.com
OK, so again, they're really expensive.  CHEAP compared to trumeau's though!
You can get nice examples for $200-$600.

Nick Brock at Ist Dibs has a mirror, fabulous.  He attributes it to French Empire.

This fabulous beauty can be yours for $4,850.  The swan is amazing!

There is a trumeau mirror on Ist Dibs that I thought was worth looking at because of the gilt carved cartouche on it.  It is a beautiful basket.

French Empire, circa 1815,  $8,500

I love trumeau mirrors, except you need a giant space and a wagon to haul your wallet for them.   The Empire mirrors I am talking about are not the giant Pier Mirrors, they are about 45"-48" tall, and 20"-22" wide.  The Swedish Empire looks more like the plain American Empire, except it has a carved wood cartouche above the mirror.  It's a mini trumeau mirror, in a natural wood finish.

The antique dealer that sold me my mirror said it was Swedish in origin.  I was baffled, thinking how did he know?   After digging around, there's more than Swedish painted furniture...he's right!

I did a search for Swedish mirrors at live auctioneers,and here is one that is quite lovely.  Quite a bargain at $400.  Notice the simple lines with the very ornate carving over the mirror.

Identified as a Swedish Empire on Live Auctioneers.  Sold for $400 in May 2011.

Bonhams had an interesting mirror.  There was a label on the back that had P.G Bylanders, Spegelfabrik..., Gotheborg.  

In a 2004 catalog, auction estimate $1,500-$2,000.

The style is closer to mine, but it has side pillars more typical of the French Empire.  This one was identified as Northern European.

Sold for $900 in 2005 on LiveAuctioneers

The mirror below on LiveAuctioneers  is very much like the top of mine.  I really like this one!

Sold for $1700 in 2004.  Prices seem to have softened alot since then, but really fabulous mirrors are still high.
What else is new?

A third one, but is much larger: http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/531658

Sold for $525 in 2004

Most of the mirrors are 48" long by 21" wide.  The one above is 77" x 32", but I thought it was interesting in that it didn't have the ormolu, it's wood carving.  I'm suspecting that all these without ormolu may be "northern european"?

The one below has a cornucopia and wheat on it.  http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9125778

Sold for a bargain price of $250 in 2011

So now you've seen similar styles to what I purchased. My find is below:

(I have to giggle every time I see my reflection in a mirror for a web photo.  I am reminded of the picture of a half dressed woman taking a picture of an item she's listing on ebay.  It was scary!)

The wood carving is of pomegranate branches.  The Romans thought the pomegranate signified marriage and fertility, and brides would wear pomegranate-twig wreaths.  

The wood carving on it:

Now that I have it home, I'm looking at it...and wondering...  is the wood carving upsidedown?

I think that Empire furniture is a good buy right now.  I am amazed at what pieces from the 1810's-1840's goes for.  Sometimes its cheaper than Victorian, and often cheaper than new mirrors.  I'm not so wild about American Empire, I think it tends to be more clunky.  Most of the mirrors above were 48" x 21", a narrow size, but not completely overpowering in a room.

However I do like the cleaner, plain lines that Empire often has.  I was in St. Louis, and fell in love with a mirror at Clark Graves Antiques.  I particularly liked this one:

I was only in St. Louis for a few days, and ran out of time.  I missed this one.

It was my first introduction to Biedermeier.  The 3 mirrors above are Biedermeier.  I'm not sure what the difference between Biedermeier and Empire are--other than the wood color is lighter on Biedermeier.  The mirror I missed out on had oromolu, not carving.  I thought I'd share them here if you are considering this style of mirror.

So what do you think?  Is my carving upside down?   Would you consider owning a piece of Empire? Which was your favorite mirror in the article?   See my article on an Empire Dressing Table, to look at other empire pieces.

I'm obsessed with antique mirrors.   I have a "collection" which I wrote about here, you might enjoy reading.  In the mean time, I'll fuss with where my new mirror will go.  OK, it's not empire, but I'm thinking over a Georgian chest.  Oops, that's sitting in the garage.  That was last weekend's antique fix!


UPDATE:   We turned cartouche "right-side-up"!