Proof that Campaign Furniture still travels

Another happy customer unpacking his purchase.

Follow the link below to see Christopher Schwarz :

 Unpacking the Douro Chair

Proof that campaign furniture still travels well.

 Christopher Schwarz has also now produced and excellent book introducing campaign furniture to those wishing to produce there own travelling furniture and with the first English-language translation of A.J.-Roubo’s 18th-century text on campaign pieces, plus original drawings of dozens of pieces of British campaign furniture culled from original copies of the Army & Navy stores catalogues.

Campaign furniture book

Writing Table from Cunard's S.S Ascania.

The Art Deco design of this mahogany ship’s writing table epitomises the Golden Age of the great ocean  liners in the early 20th century. It has an ivorine plaque to the underside of the front rail that notes 'SS "Ascania" 1st Class Lounge Wm. Masons & Son Ltd., Leeds'. Research is on going and will be updated here as it progresses.

The quality of construction is as you would expect from a piece of furniture on board one of Cunard's ocean liners. Curly mahogany veneers on top of straight grain mahogany secondary timber, brass inkwells and stationery rack, and unusually a type of hard rubber composite to the stretchers that could easily be mistaken for solid ebony. Also note the nickel plated hooks to the back. The table is finished to the back and would have sat in the middle of the lounge but would be moved and hooked to the wall in heavy seas.

The main questions remaining are:
Who where the makers ? and who was the designer of this very stylish piece of furniture?
Both of which are proving difficult to find out information on.
The ship was initially fitted in 1925 and then re-fitted in 1927 to allow for an increase in passenger classes to three.

So far we have found little on the maker. William Mason's son Frederick  was apprenticed to his father and brother in 1888 and spent over a year making the precise woodwork needed by their neighbour Louis Le Prince for his pioneering work in cinematography. Many credit Le Prince with making the first motion picture. Mason’s premises at this time were at 150 Woodhouse Lane. They must have been a company of a reasonable size to have been commissioned by Cunard. Surprising little other information is out there.

Cunard must have used different manufacturers and one lead found was that Ragstraw of Worcester also made furniture for Cunard and their records illustrate an almost identical table made by the company in 1939 for use on board the Queen Elizabeth which was launched the previous year.This companies archive when through auction last year in Stroud and one can only hope that though sold in separate lots it was bought by one buyer. 

The table above from this archive is clearly a later version of our table showing that the raised section to the back has been removed and what appears to be a perpetual calender below where this would have been. Our table had holes here and would have had the same.
Unfortunately, the archive doesn't note the designer.

 Hopefully, with time further information will emerge.
 From the Titanic Research & Modelling Association Ralph Currell mentions : "The 'Shipping World' of 6 May 1925 says, "On the boat deck there is a lounge, fitted with comfortable furniture and writing tables, and occupying a position which affords an excellent view of the sea."
Also  from Norway-Heritage Hands across the Sea Jan Peter Wiborg posted a couple of other photos though sadly not showing the table.

Furnishing the Colonial Bungalow Glenfield 2008

As the year comes to a close I've been thinking about what the next year will bring but also looking back to the last year and reminiscing. This years Flying the Flag exhibition has probably been one of our best when I look at the stock we found for it. This got me thinking about probably the most interesting exhibition we have ever had. "Furnishing the Colonial Bungalow" in 2008  Glenfield , New South Wales. Australia.

What a great opportunity this was. With our good friends Dr James Broadbent and Warwick Oakman we were asked to put on an exhibition to help promote the wonderful new project  the Endangered Houses Fund, the then Historical Houses ( now Sydney Living Museums) had instigated. To restore and save an important colonial bungalow which could then be sold allowing money to be moved on to another similar project.

Glenfield, was built  by the explorer Dr Charles Throsby on land given to him by Governor Macquarie. He had been a naval surgeon, explorer, magistrate and politician, and completed Glenfield around 1817, making it one of Australia's earliest surviving houses. He named it after the English village in Leicester where he was born.

Rarely, does one have the opportunity to have such a blank canvas to work with in a great location with an historical background.

Between us we found some wonderful antiques to furnish the bungalow and had a great response from the public with nearly 2000 people visiting during the week from Sydney , Melbourne and even Tasmania.  A great achievement considering the rather off the beaten track of Glenfield's location in  Casula.

Dr Broadbent wrote an excellent article to accompany the exhibition "Furnishing the Colonial Bungalow " and we had a write up in Vogue Living. Writing this now makes me think it is definitely time to start planning our 5th trip Down Under.

What is a Cordite Bucket?

 Having finished restoring our cordite bucket I am sure some people are saying. " Great, it looks good but what is it? ". We have sold a few over the years and as we will need to research it for its description in our forthcoming catalogue I thought this might be a good place to to expand on that.

    The first thing to know is it is not a bucket made of cordite but a bucket made to carry cordite. They are also referred to as Clarkson cases. From the Naval weapons website a definition  "British propellant charge container.  These were flash proof containers for bag charges (cartridges).  Charges were placed into these containers before they left the magazines.  The Clarkson's Cases then rode up the hoists to the guns where the charges were removed only when it was time to load them into the breech.  The Clarkson's Cases were reusable and were returned to the magazines for reloading."

 Which leads on to the first question. What is cordite? This entry from wikipedia is a good start.
" Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom from 1889 to replace gunpowder as a military propellant. Like gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance. These produce a subsonic deflagration wave rather than the supersonic detonation wave produced by brisants, or high explosives. The hot gases produced by burning gunpowder or cordite generate sufficient pressure to propel a bullet or shell to its target, but not so quickly as to routinely destroy the barrel of the firearm, or gun. Cordite was used initially in the .303 British, Mark I and II, standard rifle cartridge between 1891 and 1915; shortages of cordite in World War I led to United States–developed smokeless powders being imported into the UK for use in rifle cartridges. Cordite was also used for large weapons, such as tank guns, artillery and naval guns. It has been used mainly for this purpose since the late 19th century by the UK and British Commonwealth countries." So the name comes from it being constructed in "cords". This photo shows what the cordite looks like.

 That probably helps explain the construction of the buckets. Its use dictates its construction. The body is made out of cork covered on the inside in canvas and the outside in leather. The handles and straps which are sewn are fixed to the body using copper rivets. So why these materials ? Basically they are "fit for purpose."
Cork is naturally fire resistant which is well suited to the safety angle of what is being contained and its light weight will be a bonus in making it easier to move around.
The leather is use to cover the cork as the hide can be wet , stretched and glued on meaning it will shrink on drying giving a tidy, tight finish. We have seen others which have painted canvas on the out side either have lost their leather and have been painted or possibly could be a different type.

 The canvas is purely used on the inside to seal the cork and on the outside to do this but also to provide a good surface to glue the leather on to.
Copper rivets and the plate supporting the handle on the inside provide a strong fitting and are used because the metal will not give a potentially lethal spark. The cordite cases would be used to transport the charge from the magazine to the guns.

So what do the marking's mean. Lets look at this example:




 Firstly the "broad arrow" mark. This was used to show they were the property of the Board of Ordnance or Government department. This link gives some more history on the mark. If you see  2 broad arrow marks facing each other this is a sign that the case was decommissioned. N for Navy. B.H.&G. Ltd shows it was made by Barrow, Hepburn & Gale of Bermondsey, London. No 72  could be a size number and the I its mark. See diagram below. Possibly, all the cordite buckets were numbered and may even have corresponded with a specific gun?  Hopefully, some information will come to light and I can update this blog. Some will be stamped 'RCD' for Royal Chatham Dockyard. This book the Handbook of Ammunition from 1945 gives alot of answers and has this image showing cordite buckets.

The BL refers to breech loading guns. As you would expect no signs of a stenciled armorial which I am sure were added later when they were decommissioned and sold off as umbrella stands and waste paper bins. Some of the taller  ones we have seen reduced in height to do this. Some examples with stencils:

 The below example shows a cordite bucket that appears to have been reduced in height with  the base re-attached and an armorial added.

By Simon Clarke



References
Tony DiGiulian "Ammunition , Fuzes, Projectiles and Propellants" www.navweaps.com
BR932 Handbook on Ammunition 1945.
British Ordnance Collectors Network  http://www.bocn.co.uk
Christies
1stDibs.
www.campaignfurniture.com

Great Places to visit near Stow on the Wold II Lodge Park

Like Chastleton, Lodge Park is another National Trust property I have been meaning to visit for years. It is just down the road past Burford and the other side of the A40.I have driven past it but had never had the chance to look inside. What a treat it is.

It was built in the 1630's as a place to party by John 'Crump' Dutton who owned the Sherborne Estate a couple of miles down the road. You've got to admire a guy who has a huge house but the wants another place just for entertaining his friends. Going into the house you certainly sense an ambiance of the place that has seen alot of fun. The building is basically a very grand grandstand at the finishing post of a mile long walled enclosure for the chase. This was a time when fortunes were won and lost through gambling. Deer were chased along this course by hounds whom the participants bet upon. Unless the stakes reached a certain amount the deer had an escape route at the end.

There are some good  pieces of furniture to see and some lovely pictures. In the entrance hall are a pair of William Kent tables. Sadly, stripped of the original gilding and missing their marble tops but still very impressive.

The main room is upstairs and has a balcony overlooking the "finishing post". What a room! Interesting pictures and amongst the furniture two great trunks. The leather on them looks to be Russian reindeer hide similar to some still being taken off the Metta Catharina which we have used in the past for re-upholstery. The chased metalwork on them is as good as you will see and I believe they were gifts from Charles I.

I won't spoil your visit by going through all the other treasures so do try and visit the house if you are in the area. You can also go to Burford which is very close. Charming town and great church and also Sherborne. The house is now flats and not open though there is a lovely walk beside it through the woods with fun bits to amuse the children if you have any with you.

Hope you enjoy it . Well worth the gamble.

By Simon Clarke.

Restoring a Cordite Bucket.

I often get the feeling that most of the  general public think that antique dealers spend most of their days sat behind a large pedestal desk, doing The Times crossword, drinking Earl Grey tea and getting up only occasionally to speak to a customer and relieve them of a Coutts cheque for the item they have paid full ticket price for. A similar comparison , which I also have experience of is the  publican seen as solely standing behind his bar, serving the occasional pint and enjoying a bit of banter with his jolly faced locals. Like most things life isn't like that.

     Probably, one of the most important jobs , apart from actually buying our stock, is getting it into  the kind of condition which we are proud to have in our shop. Buying stock either privately or at auction means that it is rarely in this condition. Even buying from other dealers generally means that some degree of work needs to be done as our philosophy has always been to get things back into as close to its original condition as possible and sometimes their idea of this is very different from ours.
     So this leads us on to restoration. I love seeking out wonderful things to buy but there can be few things that beat the satisfaction of a job well done in returning something back to its former glory.

   There is nothing like a challenge. In fact, before buying this has to be the first question. Can you do or get the restoration done to a standard you are happy with and at a price that still makes it economically a viable proposition?

    So on to today's task. We were offered this:

       The largest diameter (20 inches) cordite bucket we have ever seen. Interesting, for it size and also it's pre 1900 date inside the lid. Usually when this height they are taller ones that have been reduced in height to make into waste paper buckets. The clue to these can be they sometimes have an applied armourial transfer applied to the side. Some may have originally had transfers on but on most we have seen they look to have been added later. This one is its original size.

Made of  cork covered in leather on the outside with canvas on the inside. So, what are the problems here? Firstly, we have a lifting of the leather on the vertical seam and top.  Secondly, to make it worse the leather has shrunk meaning you will see the cork underneath if it is solely glued down.  Lastly, and further compounding the problems someone has attempted to sort out these problems already.  As any restorer will tell you what they hate more than anything is sorting out someone else's botched job. As dealers we would certainly prefer to buy things in untouched condition. So to anyone out there please remember unless you know what you are doing and how to do it you are better off leaving well alone. Things can easily go wrong and worse case scenario will be you will completely wreck what you are trying to fix. I'm not saying don't do it. Just get it right. It can be expensive  getting things restored. We know that. Sometimes we can't buy something just because we know it will cost too much to do. Sometimes we underestimate the cost and end up making a very short profit. That's how it goes. There can be hidden complications unnoticed when purchasing that don't get seen until you get the piece in the work shop or the problem can be more complicated than first realised. Anyway , if you have job like this and decide to take it on hopefully this will help.

 Where to start.? The previous attempt at restoration had involved using a type of PVA glue to stick down the lifting leather. This thankfully had been unsuccessful because too much of the glue had been applied. That is always a big mistake when gluing anything. So the I first job is to remove the glue. What I did before thinking about taking the above photo was to apply a leather feed to soften the leather and hopefully help loosen off the glue off the leather from the underside. The other reason of this being that the leather needs to be stretched back to cover where it originally was. The product I use is Fiebings 4 Way Care . This works really well as being a liquid it soaks right into the leather as opposed to the leather creams that barely touch the surface.
  Next I used a sharp scalpel to cut through the half dried glue. Having done this I could peel back the leather towards the handle. Once the leather feed had soaked in this made it easier to start peeling of the PVA glue and then apply the feed to the underside of the leather to the top. I should say I have always found it best to apply using a sponge as this allows quick application thus avoiding tide marks.
     The other problem encountered was that the lid had been squashed down leaving it concave. To fix this the cork would need to be soaked and  with weights pushing the top down it should then dry back in its original position. Once this was soaked it was left over the weekend. Now that this is done the next job is to glue the leather down. This was done using a contact adhesive after checking in an area near the handle. The contact glue I am using is  Thixofix ; having used it successfully before on similar task. Others may work equally well. I like this one because its gel type texture makes it so much easier to apply than " runny honey " types. Having applied the glue to both surfaces the leather is pushed down starting at the middle moving outwards to stretch towards the edge.
  Similarly, the vertical split was done in the same way. Here though it was soon realized that the leather would never stretch back far enough to cover its original position so a piece of leather of similar grain and colour was applied underneath. The colour was matched up better by applying a dark wax polish.


       The final thing to do is to polish and improve the somewhat lack lustre dull finish the leather had when the bucket was purchased. The Feiblings had done its job in feeding the leather now a wax polish is needed to give the leather a shinier finish. For this some Harrells khaki wax polish would be used. It is a good quality beeswax based polish that has enough turpentine in it that it will soak into the leather. Applying quickly to again avoid tide marks it is left overnight to really soak in before being buffed up using a soft cloth.

Our gamble has paid off and the bucket is looking as close to original as possible. Now on to move on to the research to see what else we can find out about our cordite bucket. Another job for when we are not to busy with our crossword.

By Simon Clarke.
      

Great Places to visit near Stow on the Wold

Chastleton House

As we decided to have a bit of a staycation this year as part of my holiday it gave me a great chance to visit some of the many great places, which though so close to Stow, I have not managed to find the time to go to. Rather than write a little about each in this blog I thought I would write a little more about each and fit them in between blogs on the shop and research projects.
  So why not start with probably the closest and the one I have been meaning to go to since the National Trust first took it on and opened it to the public in 1997. Chastleton House and Garden is just over 6 miles from Stow on the Wold and was in the same family for nearly 400 years until the National Trust took it on.

The Trust have gone with a policy of conservation rather major restoration to the house giving it a feeling of being largely untouched for 400 years. The house was built in 1612 and has largely remained unspoilt because of the declining fortunes of the families who lived there and who didn't have the money to make any major changes. As you go into the house you enter the great hall with its long refectory hall. This would have had to have been made and then assembled in the room as there is no way it could have been carried in. There is also a nice lacquer cased clock with movement by one of Joseph Knibbs apprentices, Brounker Watts.

The house has an interesting collection of furniture and  stunning Tapestries now known to be  Sheldon work. There is a charming staircase that leads to one of my favourite rooms the Long Gallery . It is wonderfully atmospheric with its with its barrel vaulted ceiling which being 72 feet long is a rare  survivor.

There is lots more to see so I won't ruin it by posting too many photos. Some other interesting facts to finish. Walter Jones bought the house from Robert Catesby of The Gunpowder Plot fame. He knocked down the house and built Chastleton. The rules of Lawn Croquet were codified and published here in1866 and the Jaques Travelling Patience board which we have sold a couple of over the years was invented here by  Mary Whitmore Jones around 1900.

Finally, when leaving check out the small church next door with some fine brasses hidden under the carpet and the charming Dovecote in the field opposite.

By Simon Clarke.