Iron Beds for The War Effort

In 1943 Berea College, in Kentucky, participates in the WWII effort by organizing a scrap metal drive. Here students stand on iron bed frames and make a victory sign with the bed rails. These beds seem to have always been viewed as a “green” item to be used for the greater good in times of…

Antique Iron Doll Beds……..Miniature Iron Beds

As you may have seen in a previous blog…….there were little iron beds being made for salesman to carry with them when they went from town to town taking orders for full size beds. These were called “salesman’s samplers”. Those miniature  beds were distinctly different from the one in this photo. The miniature one in…

“Height”……You’re Up There.

What’s one of the major differences between original old antique iron beds and modern bed frames………height? Back in the 1800’s, iron beds were design to elevate the mattress off the ground to get away from cold drafts and also to eliminate rodents and termites that permeated wooden bed frames. As the Industrial Revolution brought to…

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

In 1971 I was going to GW in Washington DC, when the Disney movie Bednobs and Broomsticks came out. I had just start dealing in brass beds and iron beds. I can distinctly remember the day the movie was released. I started getting calls from people looking for brass beds. I wasn’t aware of it,…

B&Bs and Iron Beds

By far, my best repeat customers for my antique iron beds have always been my B&B patrons. It is customary for a B&B owner to start out with  bed…….see how they like it and the response they get from their guests, and then consider getting more. What I always tell the owners of B&B’s is…

The Mermaid Iron Bed

In the forty some years I’ve been buying and selling antique iron beds, I’ve never come across a bed like this with “mermaids” and a “crown” . There is also a beautifully detailed Victorian woman’s face and the “crown” sets above her head. In researching where this  bed came from and it’s background, I learned…