In the close to 40 years of being in the bed business I’ve only ever come across three other iron beds that had actual “faces” in the castings. This one is of a Victorian women with curly hair. Metal beds usually adorned themselves with scrolls and an occasional touch of brass. So to find something…
Over thirty years ago I started buying and selling iron beds iin the Washington DC area where I lived and went to school.
When a very light gauge iron bed is converted to a canopy it becomes so much more impressive than when it was just a simple bed with head and footboard in their natural configuration.If you go one step further and make the top canopy poles curved up to a central casting, a traditional bed all…
If you follow history you probably are aware that iron beds were not as popular in the west in the 1800’s as they were east of the Mississippi. Transporting beds to the west back in the 1800’s was not easy. It was costly, time consuming and difficult to transport large heavy items. People moving west…
Take a look at this iron bed frame. It was made in the Pittsburgh Pa. back in the mid 1800’s. Yet it’s definite “Deco” design would not come into existence until it was introduced in Paris France in the 1920’s.
Many years ago, after opening my store in Santa Monica Ca., I had the distinct pleasure of selling the first of many subsequent iron beds to the one and only “Boss”, Bruce Springsteen. He and his wife Patti wondered into my store one afternoon and proceeded to select one of the best antique iron beds…
This photo is of a thin gauge iron bed I converted to a canopy and a modern king size.
One day a rather small man walked into my store in Los Angeles and started asking me questions about iron beds.
I’ve yet to find an antique iron bed that didn’t look better after a canopy conversion. The photo of this one shows how even a bed that has soft sloping sides can still be converted. It isn’t necessary the bed has a flat top and corner castings. If you have the foundry facilities and an…
It’s very easy to tell the popularity and collectability of an item by the number of reproduction of that item you see in the market place.