Antique King Size Beds
An antique bedstead sized, or re-sized, to take a modern 5ft king or 6ft super-king mattress, so a nineteenth or early twentieth-century frame can be slept in today.
Antique King Size Beds
Two families dominate. The first is the painted iron bedstead with brass mounts, Victorian to Edwardian, and it accounts for roughly half the category. "Brass" and "iron" run through the titles, often together as the classic iron-and-brass bed at 5ft, and often with no foot end at all.
The second is the French wooden frame, about a third of what comes to market, made roughly 1880 to 1930. These are caned, carved, painted or upholstered, and the shapes carry French names: corbeille, lit bateau, bergère. Louis XVI and Empire styling turns up throughout.
Metal bedsteads were made in quantity from the mid-nineteenth century, when iron with brass mounts gave a frame that was cheap, strong and thought cleaner than timber. King and super-king widths are a modern convention, so these frames are sold on their ability to take one; many Continental beds were built to other widths in the first place.
Dates run 1800 to 1950, but the weight sits either side of 1900 rather than deep in the nineteenth century, with the 1900s the single largest block. "Victorian" and "19th Century" are used as blanket labels, so a bed dated only Victorian may sit anywhere across six decades. Four-posters, half-testers and headboards sold on their own make up the smaller remainder.
The Range
Width does a lot of the work. Frames stated at 6ft super-king sit above 5ft king ones, and the widest of all are given in metric, one at 2m x 2m and another simply as 2 metres wide. Those sit near the top alongside all-brass four-posters.
In the metal group, the divide is all-brass against iron with brass mounts. All-brass frames sit toward the top; black and aged brass, or brass and iron together, fill the middle band. Add a canopy and the piece moves up: four-posters and half-testers cluster well above the middle, and only a handful of canopied beds surface in a year.
Among the wooden beds, decoration sets the order. Carved, gilded and inlaid frames rise, with marquetry, parquetry, ormolu and mother-of-pearl inlay at the top end. Recovering is routine rather than exceptional, since a little over a tenth of titles say the bed has been newly upholstered. Headboards without frames sit at the very bottom, sold as king-size fittings.
Antique King Size Beds Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for king size beds, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
The top sale of the last year was an all-brass four poster king size bed, sold in March 2026.
The Antique King Size Beds Glossary
- Bedstead
- The frame itself, head end, foot end and side rails, without mattress or base.
- No end / low end
- A bed with no foot end at all, or one much lower than the head. Very common in the iron group.
- 5ft / 6ft
- Mattress width. 5ft is king size, 6ft super king, and both appear in titles as the sizing claim.
- Corbeille
- A French bed with a basket-shaped head and foot, curving outward.
- Lit bateau
- Boat-shaped French bed with scrolled ends, also listed as sleigh.
- Dip rail
- A top rail that curves downward at the centre, seen in Edwardian iron and brass beds.
- Japanned
- A hard dark lacquer finish on metal, named in a couple of the iron beds.
Antique King Size Beds: Frequently Asked Questions
How many come up for sale each year?
About 101 reach the market annually on Sellingantiques, listed by 58 different dealers over the archive.
That spread means the two dominant groups, iron-and-brass and French wooden, are both in steady supply, while canopied beds appear only a few times a year.
What does no end mean on an iron bed?
It means the bed has no foot end, or a foot end much lower than the head. The word "end" appears in around a tenth of titles, often as "no end bed".
It is a recurring feature of the Victorian and Edwardian iron group rather than an alteration.
Are these all English?
No. French is the single most common origin word in the titles, ahead of any English label, and covers the caned, carved, painted and upholstered wooden frames.
Irish beds appear a few dozen times, Italian rather less, and Portuguese and Spanish frames turn up repeatedly.
Which makers are named on these beds?
Names do appear in titles, but no firm is a settled presence in this category. Every name that surfaces comes from one or two dealers.
Where a name is given, it is usually as an attribution rather than a mark, and frames sold with one sit disproportionately in the upper part of the range.
Do the French frames come reupholstered?
Often. A little over a tenth of titles state the bed has been newly upholstered, which makes recovering a routine step in how these wooden frames reach market.
Upholstered is one of the four main finishes in the French group, alongside caned, carved and painted.
What are the widest frames listed?
The widest are described in metres rather than feet, one at 2m x 2m and another simply as 2 metres wide.
Below those, 6ft super-king frames form about one in seven of the category, with plain 5ft king running through the middle.