Few,
if any, furniture historians, museum directors,
or high end antique dealers consider Victorian
furniture as great furniture. This attitude is
gradually changing as time goes on, and as the
good is separated from the bad in this era of
mass production, which saw a vast number of pieces
produced in every conceivable size, shape and
style. The literature on Victorian furniture is
highly interesting. Most of the books and articles
start out objectively by stating that in some
ways Victorian furniture is to be criticized,
but in some ways it has artistic merit.
First, what we sell, however beautiful, is fundamentally
unnecessary. Second, we sell almost exclusively
to the rich, or near rich. Third, a comprehensive
knowledge, built up over a long period, is generally
necessary to buy or sell expensive antiques.
This is the open-minded or objective approach
for which scholars are supposedly noted. But then,
almost without fail, the real feelings of the
writers come through and it becomes clear that
most believe Victorian furniture is a mixed bag,
much of which is just tolerated. To be fair, this,
prejudice is changing and many now consider some
Victorian pieces to be of great value. Like the
Victorian homes, the "finest" Victorian
furniture was very large and very thoroughly decorated.
This gave an air of permanence and solidity to
the furniture, and the "antique" motifs
connected it with the splendours of the past.
Fortunately,
there were other popular styles of furniture.
The second group is well decorated but smaller
furniture, and includes products of J.H. Belter
and Co., whose designs are now very well received.
Many of the surfaces had large and deep designs
such as grapes, carved into them.
The furniture is in demand today, and the demand
is growing. It is this part of Victorian furniture
which will be most highly prized and it will be
Belter, and other pieces similar to this style.
There is a third type of Victorian furniture.
This is the simple, undecorated furniture of heavy
design. It is well made of rosewood or mahogany,
and its proportions are not bad and it is serviceable,
and quite pleasant in appearance.
Probably
its chief appeal at the present time is that it
is quite reasonable in price. It is significant
to know that $50 would buy a good piece of this
furniture in the 1960s, such as a desk, or chest
of drawers. Today the price would be closer to
$800 to $1,000 for the same item. Poor second-hand
furniture declines in price as time goes by. Antiques
go up, and Victorian furniture follows antique
furniture in its price pattern. A very significant
reason for discussing Victorian furniture is that
there is a lot of it to be had and in another
100 years we shall probably see the better pieces
fetching the high prices that the 18th Century
furniture brings today.
To summarize what has been said so far, there
are three general types of Victorian furniture:
1. Very large and highly decorated (carved); 2.
Smaller but highly decorated (carved). 3. Smaller
and almost completely undecorated. The first category
does not appear on the market often, as it stays
with the home, even when sold, as it is too heavy
and difficult to move, and not adaptable to a
smaller home.
The second category appears more and more on the
market, and brings progressively higher prices.
The third category appears in great volume in
auctions and in antique shops. The better auctions
handle it in tremendous quantity.
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