Can antique four posters take a modern mattress?

Half the category is described by mattress size rather than by period, which is the clearest sign of how these are sold. 'King' turns up in 37 titles, 'super king' in 14, 'double' in 14 and 'single' in 11. The widest stated are 6ft super kings. The smallest are single four posters, occasionally offered as a matched pair.

Which woods are most common?

Mahogany leads, in 46 of 143 titles, running from Georgian and Regency through to Edwardian singles. Oak follows with 29, including carved oak and tester beds in early taste. Other woods appear only once or twice: Portuguese and Portuguese Colonial teak, Anglo-Indian ebony, Chinese hardwood, American tiger maple and French pine.

How reliable are the dates dealers give?

Loosely used. The biggest single bucket is '19th Century' at 30 listings, followed by 'Victorian' at 19, and both are shorthand covering anything from the Regency to about 1900. Only 53 of the 143 listings carry a clean year, and the dated field runs from 1800 to 1960. Read '18th Century' (9 listings) and '17th Century' (8) the same way.

Are there 20th-century four poster beds in the archive?

Yes, and they are a real part of it. Eight listings are dated to the 1920s, eight to the 1900s, and dated examples run as late as 1950. Several of those are oak frames made in 17th-century or Jacobean taste, which is why a style label and a making date can sit a long way apart.

What about brass and iron four posters?

They are the smallest of the main groups, about one title in eleven. The samples include all-brass four posters, wrought iron with brass, cast iron finished in gold, and brass half-tester bedsteads. All-brass examples reach the upper end of the range. Iron-and-brass frames sit lower.

Do many dealers handle these?

Around 16 four poster beds are listed on Sellingantiques in a year, so it's a category that moves slowly. Forty-seven different dealers have handled one. No single dealer owns the field.

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Antique Four Poster Beds

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A full-height bedstead standing on four corner posts, built to carry a canopy and curtains that shut out draught and gave the sleeper some privacy in a cold, shared room.