What size is an antique double bed?

Titles quote 4ft, 4ft 6", 5ft and occasionally 6ft or 7ft. Standard UK double is 4ft 6", and 4ft frames are described as small doubles. Wider frames appear too. King turns up in 30 titles, and a couple are described as emperor size. The widest recorded include a 7ft burr walnut Deco bed convertible to twins and a 7ft brass bed.

Which type turns up most often?

Brass and iron. Brass appears in 268 titles and iron in 199, with Victorian brass, Victorian cast and brass iron combinations recurring underneath. French timber beds are the next largest group at 229 titles, walnut most often. Between them these two families cover a good deal of what's listed.

Are four-poster and half-tester beds common?

No. Half testers account for 17 titles and four-posters 16, a small minority of the archive between them. They cover a wide span. Some oak four-posters are dated to the seventeenth century, while half testers come in brass, cast iron, mahogany and burr walnut. Gilded solid brass half testers sit at the top of the range.

What does Art Deco mean in these listings?

Art Deco appears in 99 titles, with 1930s and 1920s the busiest decades in the dated field. Walnut and maple dominate, burr walnut especially. Dealers use shape names as if they were models: Odeon, Sunray, Skyscraper, Fan Shaped, Half Circle. Beds with integral bedside cabinets lead that group.

Do these beds come from outside Britain and France?

Yes. Irish beds account for 28 titles, and Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Breton, American, Indo-Portuguese and Hungarian ash examples each appear. Portuguese colonial teak shows up only once or twice, as do faux bamboo, bentwood and a brass, iron and Lucite frame.

Are antique double beds sold by named makers?

Rarely as a category fact. No maker's name reaches three dealers across this evidence, so the beds are sorted by material, style and period instead. Around 83 are listed on Sellingantiques in a year, and 95 different dealers have handled them. No single specialist controls the category.

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Antique Double Beds

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An antique double bed is a full-size bedstead, a head and foot end joined by side rails or irons, made from the nineteenth century onward for the domestic bedroom.