Over the years I’ve sold well over a hundred iron beds that different manufacturers have ended up reproducing. Sometimes that reproducing occurred here in this country. 
But most often it took place in China, Taiwan or Spain. All centers of low price labor.
But few beds have ever experienced the popularity as the one in this photo. I can honestly say there is rarely a week that goes by that someone doesn’t see the original antique version I have of this bed on my website and ask if it’s available. In the forty years of being in the business I’ve only had this bed a couple of time and one of those went to one of the many companies that reproduced it. Unfortunately many of the companies that did reproduce it, didn’t even have an original to take the molds from and instead bought a reproduction and took their molds off of that. When that happens you end up loosing a “generation” with the mold. Every time a mold is taken of something that already had a mold take from an original, it is loosing a “generation” of clarity and definition.
Also it’s next to impossible for a reproduction to have the clarity in their castings as any original antique iron beds have, because of the materials that are being used in the reproduction castings……..aluminum. Aluminum is a very soft alloy and looses clarity with every pass through a sandblasting booth or industrial roto blaster.
The clarity of the original castings on this bed were incredible. It’s easy to see why so many companies wanted to reproduce it.
I hope you’ve found this blog informative . I invite you to revisit my website
to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.
I also invite you to take a look at our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.
Cathouse Antique Iron Be#B1BE56
