Hey Look–We Found More Antique Hardware

We love it when we come across a piece we’ve already recovered somewhere else. We never claim to only sell original pieces; that would be exaggeration at its fullest. As you may remember, we featured another one of these sunflower door knobs a couple of weeks ago; well, thanks to Betsy, we’ve found even more of them!

The best thing about this piece is that these came as complete sets, so there is no more need to worry about setting them up correctly with each other, or choosing the right kind of rose cover for it. This one features two different rose covers. One of them (featured on the center and right hand side knobs) is similar depiction of the design on the knob face itself. This is the one that we will most likely replicate on all of these knobs, including the one that we are already deconstructing.

 

 

The other rose cover, featured on the left hand doorknob, doesn’t match the design of the knob at all, but it is still a very nice piece. The only thing this knob and plate have in common is that they are both made of brass. We have no intention of pairing these two together for sale; we will actually be selling the rose plate by itself (as we have no knob to match right now), since it is such a nice piece.

We are going to have to do a lot of cleaning on these plates. They have been covered in grime and dust for years, and it has somehow attached itself to the pieces. We have already broken out our toothbrushes and buckets of Coke (yes, the soda-it is incredibly good at cleaning of caked in dirt and grime off of metal…aside from being delicious!) so stay tuned and we’ll have them available shortly!

Antique Hardware – Flower Drawer Pull

So Betsy called us at the end of last week and asked us if we wanted to come back and take a look at some other stuff she had just found.  Of course, we said yes and took a trip over on Saturday.  When we went over the first time, we only tackled one of her storage rooms; she has four total.  Betsy and her husband had an old barn on their property which they remodeled into a work area.  There were also four storage rooms attached as well that were absolutely full of stuff.  We had found our items in the first of these, and had no idea just how much more we had to discover.

This second store room that Betsy opened for us was amazing.  There was a golden glow that lit up the whole room the second the door was opened; it was heavenly.  Then we realized that there was a huge skylight in the ceiling, and it was the sun streaming in.

There were five or six boxes of drawer pulls and door handles that we grabbed immediately.  They all seemed to be sorted by type, which made it even more fun to look through.  The categories were pretty general “outdoorsy things”, “animals”, and my personal favorite “interesting”.  We took just about everything from the “outdoorsy” box, and the entire “interesting” one.  We only took a couple of items from the “animal” box; they can be kind of hard to market.

This one came from the outdoorsy box, and was the first item we put our hands on.  We love the flower on the back design, and the elaborately carved ring door pull.  The two styles are almost so different that they don’t go together, yet at the same time they blend perfectly.  Tell us what you think!

Solid Bronze Asian Style Fan Drawer Pull

We found one of the other pieces that we originally bought with the dragon lamp!  When I found this piece of Antique Hardware, I remembered more about the person selling them.  It was a middle-aged couple who had just moved into a new, fully furnished home.  Unfortunately for them, it was all done up in an Asian-theme, which just wasn’t their style.  They knew the items they had would sell pretty easily, and decided to have a yard sale to see what all would go.

This piece (there are several more just like it, but this is in the best shape) is a drawer pull off of a dresser they were selling.  We bought the entire thing just for these drawer pulls.  The dresser itself was nice; it was solid wood painted with black enamel, but this hardware didn’t really suit it.  We decided to completely strip it down and sell it in pieces.  Well, we sold the dresser to a friend of ours that refinishes pieces like that, and kept the drawer pulls for ourselves. We are also using the dresser top (kind of a weathered white look) as a front page photo for our new catalog!

These are solid copper with a bronze coating on them, albeit now they are a very dirty version of it.  They are very sturdily made, and were built to last.  We’ll take apart this antique pull with the others, and create a mold of probably four or five pieces to be cast at once.  While people most often do buy this type of hardware as a set, there are always times where one gets damaged and you need to replace the single unit.  We try to accommodate people the best that we can, and will offer these both as a set as well as individually.  Our versions will be flawless, as we are going to eliminate any cause for flaws on the originals!  Stay tuned for the final version!

Odd Little Dragon Lamp – Perhaps a Porch Light?

Check this beast out!  This didn’t come from Betsy, this is actually something we’ve had sitting around the office for a while, but haven’t been able to restore like we wanted until recently.  It was a complete wreck when we originally found it, it was filthy dirty, the wiring was extremely frayed, and the glass was smoky colored and yellowed from age.  We spent a looooooong time cleaning it, and finally have it ready to be replicated.  I was so excited when I saw how it came out, I got sidetracked and had to show it off!

I just absolutely love the whimsy with this piece.  It’s perfect for anyone who appreciates the Asian culture, or has an Asian-inspired theme in a room (or throughout) their home.  The little light is a miniature crystal chandelier, and uses a standard light bulb.  It can also use the more energy efficient ones, if you prefer.

I don’t even remember when exactly we found this piece, but I remember it was a yard sale somewhere in California.  The owner had a few different items that we purchased, but this one is easily my favorite.  The deconstruction of this piece is a little different from what we normally do, since it contains a separate wiring element.

We will carefully remove the lighting fixture, remove the wiring, and then create a mold of our dragon.  The mini chandelier will have to be hand constructed separately.  We’ve found some glass beads nearly identical to the ones currently in use, and have a local glass bead maker on standby just in case we change our minds and decide to have them handmade (just like the original ones were); we’ll see how it looks.  We’re currently testing out how the new beads look and it’s proving to be tricky to get the design identical.

Simple “O” Ring Style Door Knocker

Door knockers are the perfect example of a highly practical piece that is becoming more and more unusual on homes.  They were once extremely popular, and somewhat necessary.  They started disappearing off of homes when door bells starting becoming popular, making the purpose of these pieces obsolete.  Many times you will find some homes that still have one decorating their door, but it is usually there for that reason only, and not as a practical piece.

Here’s another piece that we found at Betsy’s house.  This one is she was saving for her own home, which she had planned on remodeling in a more contemporary style but never got around to it.  She loved the clean lines and simplistic look of this piece, and said it reminded her of a pair of gold earrings she once owned.  It was one of the more difficult pieces to take off of her hands, as it had some small amount of sentimental value to it, but when she realized what exactly we do, she knew it was for the best.

The best thing about simplistic and clean pieces like this one is that they are extremely versatile.  We never know exactly what a customer is looking for when they come to our website, so we do our very best to appeal to each and every one of them.  We do this by maintaining an extremely diverse inventory of products that are available in a variety of sizes and finishes, so that we have the greatest chance of supplying just what you need.

This piece is no exception, and will be re-cast in a variety of different finishes, especially bronze and oiled bronze, so that it will be able to match modern décor as well as antique ones.  No matter what style your home (or front door) is, this piece will be a great match.

Lion’s Head Door Knocker

What better way to add a touch of class to your front door than with a lion’s head door knocker?  While these pieces may seem old fashioned, they are one piece who’s classic style will be popular now and in years to come.  They will always get compliments, and you may find yourself the object of envy by your friends and neighbors.

 

We can’t take full credit on this discovery by ourselves.  We were encouraged by a friend of ours to go visit a former acquaintance of hers, and are very thankful we took her advice.  Her friend, Betsy, is an older woman, who made her living for decades refinishing all sorts of antique pieces with her husband.  She has never limited herself to furniture, but also had some gorgeous doors, cabinetry, and other pieces.  Unfortunately, her health has been declining, and she is no longer able to create the pieces like she used to.  She is selling what items she hasn’t used, and man are there some beauties!

 

This is one of many pieces we will be featuring, and thought that it was really eye catching, and quite frankly, my favorite one so far.  There are quite a few different door knockers that we will show you, as well as some other items. This one is going to be deconstructed, have a mold made of it, and then re-cast in a variety of different finishes so that it will suit everyone’s needs and wants.  The brass really captures the details of the piece, and we believe that the copper and oiled bronze versions will do it justice as well.  No matter where you decide to place this in your home, it is sure to be the perfect finishing piece.

It’s A Chandelier! I think…

I know there are a bunch of you that are going to take one look at this picture and go “What is that?” so we thought we’d clear it up for you in the title. We know it’s not a very good picture, but it’s the best one we could take at the moment. This was a pic we took to get an opinion from a friend as to whether or not they thought we should purchase it. After all, it is rather rough looking, clearly missing some pieces and needs a lot of restoration work.

But, that is what we do. We find old pieces and carefully recreate them in many different metals and finishes. In ideal situations, the pieces are in very good condition, where there is not much work to be done on our end. This means we can create a mold and get it back out on the market to you relatively quickly.

In worst case scenario, we get things like this chandelier. I know there are some of you that figured out what it was right away, but there were probably many more saying, “Is that a chandelier? I think so, but I’m not sure”. We’re not exactly sure of the original finish, but are going to replicate it in copper, oiled bronze, and polished bronze.

Since this piece is missing several components, it may take us longer than normal to get this on the market to you. We’ll have to do an inventory to figure out what pieces we’ll need more of, and see what pieces need repaired before molds can be made. The deconstruction process will also be longer, since this is a more intricate piece than the door knobs that we usually feature, but that is to be expected.

Elaborate Brass Door Knob

Thank you so much for your patience is us presenting to you the matching door knob in our quest to find unique antiques to share with you!  We know how the suspense was killing you, but come on, you know it was totally worth the wait.  We have finally finished cleaning off some of the dirt and grime that was on this, so here it is!

Can’t you just picture this on the front door of an old Victorian home with the matching door plate?  I can’t even begin to imagine how much something this elaborate may have cost.  You can definitely see that the design is a little worn down from years of use but like we’ve always said, that is bound to happen.

There are numerous scratches covering the sides, but fortunately they are not too deep.  What does this mean for you?  Simple; they are less likely to show up when we make the mold, so the replica will be flawless.  Anything that is somewhat deep will have to be filled in and smoothed over so that they do not show through.

As for the worn areas on the top, there is not much that we can do about that.  A true replica will have the same worn features as the original.  If it is extremely worn down, we may try our hand at completely re-creating and carving the piece to create a whole new one.  The only problem with this is that it may not be exactly what the original artist intended it to look like.  We’ll never truly know what exactly they wanted, since they are no longer available to talk to. Since this may contradict the integrity of the piece, we tend to steer away from pieces in this condition so that we can stay true to the artist’s original intention.

Flourished Hinge

We were recently visiting friends in California, and ended up at an enormous flea market.  Well, by now you all know how much we love going to flea markets!  You just never know what you’ll find there.  At on booth someone might be selling baseball cards and Coke memorabilia, and at the very next stall there could be someone selling handmade furniture.  No matter what you are looking for, you are sure to find it at a flea market, or a very good substitute.

Lucky for us, there were four of five different stalls in the very first wing that were selling various antiques, and many of them had at least a couple of pieces of antique hardware.  This flourished door hinge came from one stall, and we purchased a couple of others from the neighboring stalls.  We were drawn to its unique coloring, and the simple, yet elegant design.

 

We believe this was a copper piece originally, though the patina has such unique coloring it will hard to tell for sure until we clean off some of the rust and can get out some of the original metal.  We’ll recreate this piece in copper, bronze, as well as cast iron.  We know it is a very unique piece, and will be well cherished in each of these materials.

Since we are creating this in multiple metals, it will take us longer to get them all on the market, as we will have to do three times as much work.  Not only will we have to create a mold for one metal, but we’ll have to make additional ones for the other two.  Ideally, this shouldn’t take too long, if we make the mold correctly the first time.  Stay tuned in and we’ll give you a progress report!

Elaborate Brass Door Plate

This is another great find from the California market, a third stall that we found.  Actually, it’s part of a set, but we’re still cleaning up the other piece and will have it up to show you shortly.  Remember how we were talking about how rare it was to find a matching set?  Well we were lucky enough to find one at the flea market; you really can find everything there, no matter the rarity!

This door plate was probably quite expensive, judging by the degree of embellishments on it, and the fact that it is bronze.  Bronze is a much more expensive metal than copper or brass, especially when it is over 100 years old.  People didn’t have money back then like they do today, and definitely don’t spend as much money decorating their homes like in today’s society.  Any time we find a piece as elaborately decorated like this, we can only imagine where it came from.

We absolutely hit the jackpot with this one though.  Not only was it a matching set that we found, but we were also fortunate enough to find out the history behind the pieces.  The people that rented out the stall were an older couple who prided themselves in their antiques, but wanted to get rid of some of the surplus.  They had come into most of them through relatives, and this particular set was the wife’s grandmothers.  She said she remembered it on her grandmother’s front door when she was a little girl.

Her grandmother had married into a wealthy family, and her husband sensing his wife’s love of decorating, allowed her a hefty budget to decorate the home however she liked.  She had splurged on a gorgeous front door, and had chosen this door plate and coordinating door knob to be the crowning jewel for the door.  Sometimes the stories behind the hardware are just as interesting as the hardware itself.

We’ll show you the doorknob very soon, so hang tight!