Are rosewood bookcases usually glazed?

No. Open shelving dominates: 183 of 418 titles say the piece is open, against 14 that say glazed and 11 that mention a door. Glazed and doored bookcases do turn up, including four-door, two-door and five-door examples and one with a vitrine top, but they are a small minority of the category.

What period do most of them come from?

The first half of the 19th century. "19th Century" and "Regency" between them account for the majority of the date fields, with Victorian and Georgian also used broadly. Only 100 of 418 listings carry a clean year, and those run 1800 to 1920. Decade tags cluster in the 1850s, then thin out through the 1890s, 1860s and 1900s.

Why do some listings say simulated or faux rosewood?

Because the piece isn't rosewood. Softwood or another timber has been grained and painted in imitation, and dealers describe it as simulated, faux, grained or in original grained finish. The archive also holds bookcases in related exotic timbers: amboyna, goncalo alves, palissander and kingwood.

Do rosewood bookcases come in pairs?

Rarely. Nineteen titles in 418 say pair, and they sit at the very top of the range, mostly Regency open bookcases and bookshelves. Everything else is a single piece.

What is a revolving rosewood bookcase?

A square tiered bookcase on a central pivot, so books can be reached from all four sides. Some are titled revolving book table or revolving library table. Nineteen appear in the archive and they sit late, mostly 1890s to 1910, forming a Victorian and Edwardian tail to a category otherwise weighted to the Regency.

How often do these come up for sale?

Around 41 rosewood bookcases are listed on Sellingantiques in a year. They are spread thin across the trade: 131 different dealers have handled one, so a dealer typically has a single example rather than a stock of them.

Home > Bookcases > Rosewood Bookcases > Page 4

Antique Rosewood Bookcases

67 items · page 4 of 5

← Page 4 of 5 →

A rosewood bookcase is usually a low, open-shelved piece from the first half of the 19th century, made to hold books at seat height in a drawing room rather than line a library wall.