Just like all those great Quinn Martin Productions, we have an epilogue. OK, Quinn Martin was a successful TV producer (The Fugitive, The F.B.I., The Streets of San Francisco and others). He was the Dick Wolf of his day. OK, Dick Wolf is a successful TV producer (Law and Orders of all shapes and sizes) and the Shonda Rhimes of his day. Shonda Rhimes? Look her up.
In the epilogue, the heroes would typically explain where the perpetrators went wrong and why truth, justice and the American way prevailed. And back then, they always prevailed. I believe it actually existed to gloss over holes in the plot and to resolve those issues the writers couldn’t in the allotted time.
In my epilogue, I am just encouraging you to go to the Flickr set to see all the interesting furniture in the auction. Like this English barrel back chair:
Not a common form.
And some smaller tables like this table with glass claw and ball feet:
These feet are also common on piano stools of the era.
I just now noticed there is a face on the feet:
Don’t that beat all?
A small Arts & Crafts tavern table with square legs and ball feet:
Cross stretcher.
Here is another typewriter with interesting technology that died an early death, the Hammond #12:
Alternate approaches to typing.
The drum in the back was fitted with a two piece, interchangeable type wheel. The correct letter rotated into position and was struck by a constant pressure hammer from behind the paper. The type wheel could be replaced with not only different fonts but different character sets, Greek or Russian for example, or mathematical or other symbols. A character map slipped into the holder just above the keyboard.
Next, can you call it a reproduction if there was never an exemplar. Like this Queen Ann Style fall front desk:
Would Queen Ann acknowledge it as her progeny?
With one of the least interesting galleries:
Queen Ann lacked imagination apparently. Phillips screws.
The Flickr set starts with the most likely antiques and transitions in to the reproductions and other undefined items. The set is HERE.
Epilogue to the Epilogue. Research Can Be a Rabbit Hole or Bonus Content.
I would be better off if I were less curious. The first documented example of this was early on a Saturday morning when I was around seven. I thought I heard my Red Flyer® wagon. I looked down from my bedroom window and saw my father pulling our rather stiff looking German shepherd into the woods. Later, at breakfast, father informed up that Heidi had run away that very morning. I innocently asked why he hauled her out into the woods if she ran away. I should have learned from this but you all know I didn’t.
I looked into the history of the three reproduction furniture companies mentioned in the original blog. Craftique crashed and burned in 2012, victim of changing times and a rotten economy. Benbow Reproductions is still plugging away and doing fine. Kittinger Furniture, the purchaser of Biggs Furniture is a more interesting story.
The company was originally founded in 1866. It did well, expanded and grew. The following is cut and pasted from their history page:
The Colies’ opened a paper factory in the bustling Great Lakes port of Buffalo, New York. Soon thereafter, they also began to manufacture upholstered furniture and that business boomed. In 1885, they opened a furniture plant that produced beautiful hand–crafted furniture in classic 18th century styles.
When George Colie’s son-in-law, Irvine J. Kittinger, took the helm The Kittinger Furniture Company was born. To Irvine Kittinger, quality was paramount. “Our business is not primarily to turn furniture into money, but to produce something really worthwhile.” he wrote. (Author’s note: What a concept!)
In 1966, the Kittinger family sold the company to General Interiors Corporation and thus an “Era of Revolving Door Ownership begins:
1975 General Mills Corporation
1986 Chicago-Pacific Corporation
1988 Maytag Corporation
1989 Ladd Furniture Corporation
1990 Michael Carlow private investor Continue reading →