We Are Still Celebrating the Victorians

This is Victorian Week in Cape May. It will be capped off this Saturday (Oct. 15) by an antiques and crafts show at the Physick Estate.
The prevailing wisdom in some circles is that Victorian is “out” these days. What an absurd statement. How can nearly an entire century of design be out. The Victorian/Edwardian Era technically runs from 1837 to 1910, and it’s chock full of plenty to celebrate.
First, there is the sheer depth of what is Victorian style – Gothic, Jacobean, Elizabethan, Renaissance, Louis XV baroque, Louis XVI and Georgian neo-classical, Empire, the Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic movements.
Then there is the last 19th Century style, Eastlake, named for the designer, who encouraged a simpler decor, and the first 20th Century style, the breezy, feminine, organic Art Nouveau.
Remember, too, the breadth of the Victorians’ cultural contributions. They invented the trappings of Christmas as we celebrate it today, the traditional wedding, the setting and etiquette for formal dining, collecting as a hobby.
And there’s the Victorians’ technical achievements – the phonograph and the electric light, photography, color printing, the telephone, the Atlantic cable, psychoanalysis, time theory, railroad and steamship travel and evolution – just to name a few.
Thankfully, fine quality Victorian/Edwardian pieces are still among the most available and affordable period antiques on the market. And that’s a good thing. It gives a discriminating public an alternative to having to explain some day why everything they are passing on to the next generation was made in China.
Appraisals: Bookcase, hand-carved walnut with burl veneer, Renaissance Revival, ca. 1870, $6,000; Marble-top hall tree w/beveled mirror, Renaissance Revival, Walnut, ca.1875, $2,300; Pier Mirror, walnut, 107″ high by 41″ wide, hand-carved w/ebonized detail,$2,000; Settee, Louis XV-style, upholstered, carved rose center wood medallion, $1,700.
Also: Hanging lamp, cranberry hobnail glass, crystal prisms, electrified, $1,600; Birds-eye maple work (sewing) table, $1,500;
Oak roll-top secretary bookcase, $1,200; Eastlake marble-top parlor table, 30″x30″, beveled top w/cookie corners, elaborately carved apron, carved rose finial on stretcher post, $1,000; Wrought iron bed, $600; Cast iron basket of roses doorstop, marked Hubley, great paint, $350; Four-piece cranberry glass cruet set, Meriden, Connecticut, $300.
Arthur Schwerdt, a certified appraiser, is the author of “The Antique Story Book: Finding the Real Value of Old Things,” an co-owner of The August Farmhouse Antiques on Route 9 in Swainton. Send your comments, questions and appraisal requests to aschwerdt@cmcherald.com.
1 (EASTLAKE CLOCK):Is time is running out for the Victorian style? Not that you can tell by the hands on this stylish 1880s/’90s Eastlake shelf clock (about $250). The case is hand-carved walnut, and the still smoothly operating works are Ingram.
2. (LOVE SEAT): Well, someone’s comfy on this 1880s Eastlake love seat (about $450).The Victorian era German bisque head doll (about $275) seems to enjoy the tastefully modern re-upholstery job..
3. (SILVER URN): The Victorians admired late 18th Centuy Georgian silver. So when they locked up their silver flatware it would be in a Georgian-style Neo-Classical box. Only the butler would have the key to this rare, hand-carved mahogany silver urn (one of a pair, about $2,500). Behind the doors are felt-lined draws that kept the silver safe from the children, the help and the tarnishing air. Today, They would make a distinguished home for a special collection.
4. (CLASSICAL STATUARY): Not all Victorian is haunted house gothic. There was a classical revival in the mid-19th Century and right in the center of it was Parian porcelain, a special formula molded to resemble Parian marble.
5. (SILVER SERVER): One thing Victorian that’s still very hot is silver. The Victorians were nuts for it. So, assemble at dawn to chase the fox, and then to a hearty English breakfast where the biscuits are passed around in this silverplate caddy (about $300), featuring a bird on the stem, a fox on the handle, and classical masks all around. There are also dolphins and lions’ paws. There was no much like too much for the Victorians, and it’s all ours to enjoy today.