What is the difference between a vitrine and a display cabinet?

In practice the two words cover the same object, a case with glass doors and shelves. Vitrine tends to attach to the French version, smaller and more decorative, with mounts and painted panels. Display cabinet does the heavier lifting in English titles. Of the 871 listings on Sellingantiques, 462 use the phrase display cabinet outright.

Which timbers turn up most?

Mahogany leads, named in 260 titles, and it carries the English Edwardian and Victorian block, commonly inlaid or with satinwood banding. Kingwood is the signature timber of the French group, in 85 titles. Walnut concentrates in the 1930s Art Deco cabinets, and plainer oak and pine examples sit at the lower end.

How old are most of these cabinets?

The dated field runs from 1750 to 1930, and decade labels bunch hard on 1880 to 1910. Nothing in the archive is dated after 1930. The commonest label is also the vaguest. A hundred and sixty-nine listings are dated only to the 19th century, more than any single decade, and Victorian and Edwardian are used just as loosely.

Were vitrines made for shops as well as homes?

Yes. Shop fittings are a persistent minority, with 27 titles mentioning shop, including countertop and bow-end counters. Samples cover haberdashery, apothecary, jeweller's, confectionery and museum cases. One Edwardian cabinet was later sign-written with perfume brand names.

Why are some Art Deco cabinets round or octagonal?

The odd shapes all cluster in the 1930s block, which runs to 56 listings and is almost entirely walnut. Circular, oval, octagonal, hexagonal, clove-shaped, cathedral and rocket forms all appear there. Everything earlier keeps to rectangular, bowed or serpentine outlines. The shaped fronts before 1930 are curves rather than geometry.

Where do these cabinets come from?

The category splits mainly between France, England and the Netherlands. Eighteenth-century Dutch marquetry vitrines are the earliest well-represented type, and one carries the archive's earliest date of 1750. Other origins appear once or twice each: Swedish, Danish, Italian, Belgian, Japanese, Chinese and American showcase work.

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Antique Vitrines

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A vitrine is a glazed display cabinet, made with glass doors and shelves so that china, silver, jewellery or curios could be seen without being handled.