What is a club fender?

It's a fender with seats built onto the end boxes, usually leather-topped, flanking a rail you can lean against. It grew up in gentlemen's clubs and country houses where people wanted somewhere to sit at the fire. On Sellingantiques 356 titles use the word club, and 153 mention leather. Brass and wrought iron are the usual frames.

How old are most fenders on the site?

The dated field spans 1750 to 1960, with 327 listings carrying a clean year. 19th Century and Victorian labels dominate, so a great many sit somewhere in that century without a tighter date. Early twentieth-century tags are common taken together: 1900s, Edwardian, 1910s and 1920s. Georgian and Regency entries exist but are thin on the ground.

Which materials turn up most?

Brass, in 565 of 895 titles, and it's usually combined with iron or steel. Cast iron, wrought iron and steel are the regular partners. Oak, copper and bronze form smaller groups. Gilt-bronze and ormolu appear mostly on French chenet fenders, of which there are 26 titles.

Are nursery fenders the same as fire guards?

They overlap. A nursery fender is a tall fender, commonly with wire mesh, that encloses the fire against children, and 67 titles use the term. Guard appears in 78 titles and fire guard in 61. The build is close enough to a club fender that dealers sometimes title one piece as either.

What does an extending fender do?

The side rails slide in and out so the fender fits different fireplace openings rather than one fixed width. Extending appears in 37 titles and adjustable in 29. The feature recurs from Georgian brass right through to 1930s club fenders.

Do fenders carry maker's names?

Not in this category. A scan of the listings for maker candidates returned nothing at all, so names are not how these pieces are described or sorted. What dealers give instead is material, form and length: brass and iron, pierced or serpentine, four foot or five foot six.