Can’t find these drop pulls anywhere!
geppetto425
| Posted in General Discussion on
I have looked in vain for a missing brass drop pendent for a cabinet I’m restoring. I’ve sent these pictures to 12 different antique hardware dealers across the country, no body has one. Note that they have a ball and socket joint instead of the usual hinge type joint. The teardrop is 1 7/8″ long, the backplate is 1 1/4″ in diameter and it sticks out about 1″. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps I need to start searching over in England? The client has no problem replacing all of them if I can’t find one. (Sorry the picture of the hunt table is upside down.)
Replies
Those are tough ones, you might check out the White Chapel catalog. They have some drop pulls that might be a good substitute. The catalog has a lot of nice stuff in it. Here is there website http://www.whitechapel-ltd.com/ Good luck
Troy
Those are tough ones, you might check out the White Chapel catalog. They have some drop pulls that might be a good substitute. The catalog has a lot of nice stuff in it. Here is there website http://www.whitechapel-ltd.com/ Good luck
Troy
Look to Van Dykers Restorers they have something very similiar -- They carry all kinds of restoration stuff
http://www.vandykes.com/
If there would be economic value in preserving as many original brasses as possible, you might have Ball & Ball Brasses manufacture the matching brass, though I suspect it would be heart stoppingly expensive otherwise. You might also check Londonderry Brasses for a match or old looking replacements if you can't find an exact match.
One thing I would do is start contacting auctioneers. Unfortunately, at least in Seattle, there aren't as many as there once were. Some -- the pack rats -- have piles of old brasses and such that they sell by the piece.
I wonder too if you couldn't make one yourself. I know nothing about metal working, but isn't there a "lost wax" method of duplicating parts? Something echoes from my high school days.
Great idea regarding some of the antique auctioneers having stashes of hardware.
The lost was method is pretty common in jewelry making, where the "original" is sculpted in wax and then surrounded by a casting medium. Heating the combination then melts the was away, leaving the void in the casting medium, into which the melted metal (e.g. silver or gold) is poured. Once the metal has cooled, the casting medium is broken away, leaving the part.
Obtaining the equipment and expertise to cast brass on one's own might be more expensive than having Horton or Ball and Ball do it, though.
Thanks for the ideas. I've
Thanks for the ideas. I've already checked Horton, White Chapel, Van Dyke's, WSI Distributors, Lee Valley. I have a restoration friend who will help me recast one if I want. I'm just baffled that no one has one, is it that unusual? Now I'm on a quest!
Next question, is there a source or website that would know the period/history of this particular pull? Thanks.
geppetto425,Have you tried historichouseparts.com, thay have a wide selection of old pulls and knobs. Good Luck ! in your search. garyowen
looks to be early Victorian
SA
Looks to me rather like a William and Mary lowboy, right down to the X cross brace stabilizing the trumpet legs. Of course I can't tell whether it's of the period or a revival piece.
Ball & Ball has some William and Mary drop pulls that would look appropriate, but they don't have the ball and socket feature and wouldn't be an exact match.
http://www.ballandball-us.com/furn_pull_williamandmary.html
the style is W & M but lack of crude casting and large size indicates a later period. - used again by the Victorians
SA
You many very well be right about the date, though I would still classify it as Revival not Victorian Style. But look at the Ball & Ball drops, they are quite similar in size so I don't think size is an indicator here. The ball and socket does seem more like a later innovation, though. And the threading does seem modern. I assume there is no evidence that brasses were ever replaced, so a later date could well be right. How about in the Colonial Revival years that began with the Centennial and waxed and waned since then, ending ???
Personally, I would emphasize the William and Mary reproduction aspect, and if I couldn't find the exact match replace all the brasses with something reasonably accurate like the B&B. If the woodwork would support it, using brasses from Londonderry Brasses would be cruder, older looking, though I'm not entirely sure that would really be more accurate.
the furniture style is W & M - the piece is a D/R server from the first quarter of the 1900's - a low boy is different -
the question was " what style is the pull " - to me the pull is a style taken from victorian hardware - the pulls are W & M form but heavier more like victorian hardware became. This furniture is a creation of different styles.
No part of this furniture is accurately recreated.
I would also say changing all the brasses would not hurt the value. Another way would be to use the existing hardware for just the drawers and replace the hardware with similar replacement pulls on the two doors.
SA
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled