American Signature Furniture

American Signature Furniture

It is often difficult to estimate the time period in which a piece of antique furniture was made. We have to look for clues. Styles and tastes evolve over time. Also, new pieces of furniture are made to fit the needs of the day. Knowing what the styles were in a particular era, or when a new type of furniture first appeared, gives clues as to when the antique piece could have been made. You know this is true by looking at your own lifetime. Have you noticed that fewer people keep their TVs in armoires? Now that we have big flat screen televisions, sleek modern television stands have been invented. Also, a variety of TV wall hanging mounts appeared. If a child asked you how old one of those TV stands were, you would know they were probably only a decade old. We did not have any in the 1970s or 1980s.

The origin of the rocking chair is unknown but the first ones we do know of originated in England in the early 1700's and were made near Windsor Castle in Berkshire (which lies about a 20 minute drive away from Heathrow Airport) hence the name 'Windsor Rocker'. In all probability it came about through watching the therapeutic effect of gently rocking a baby in it's cradle, so why not do the same for adults? England was not the only country to have the rocker at that time, Sweden had another form around 1740 called the 'Gungstol', which just means rocking chair. These originally had 6 legs and were traditionally painted black with gold outlines. A four legged version became popular in the 1800's

American Signature Furniture