What are the Howard & Sons model names?

Titles are dominated by named house models. Portarlington is the most frequent with eight, followed by Baring, Ingleby, Castellane, Grantley, Beckett, Chaplin and Wimborne. Ramsden, Leeds and Ivor each appear once, as does a deep-seated Bridgewater suite of two chairs and a sofa. The names come from the firm's standing range, sold as models rather than one-offs.

How old are these sofas?

More than half the archive is dated no more precisely than "19th Century", with a further handful simply "Victorian". Edwardian is the next largest group. Only 26 listings carry a clean year, and those run from 1850 at the earliest to 1930 at the latest. Behind Edwardian come the 1910s, 1860s, 1880s, 1900s and 1920s, with the 1870s and 1930s barely represented.

Does a stamp or label make a difference?

Titles that advertise "Stamped", "Fully Stamped" or "Labelled" are pushed forward as selling points, and they sit toward the upper part of the range. One title records Berners St. The titles say only that a stamp or label is present. They don't record where it sits or how it reads.

What does "in the style of Howard and Sons" mean?

It means the piece is being offered as the form rather than the firm. Six titles read "Howard and sons style", and others use "attributed", "att' to" or "after". Those titles all sit in the lower part of the sampled range, below sofas given to the firm outright.

Are chaises longues cheaper than the sofas?

Chaises longues and daybeds account for roughly one listing in six and concentrate almost entirely in the lower half of the range. Full-length sofas and chesterfields occupy the upper half. Scale reinforces it: the biggest pieces stated are two seven-foot Portarlingtons, while three titles are flagged only as "small".

Do curved and unusual shapes turn up?

Yes, as a persistent minority. Three kidney-shaped sofas, two crescent chesterfields and one serpentine front appear across the archive. Single oddities include an oak corner sofa of about 1900, the only corner form recorded, and one aesthetic movement open-arm sofa. Pairs are uncommon, with two appearing, one at the very top of the range.

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Antique Howard & Sons Sofas

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Deep-seated upholstered sofas, settees, chaises and buttoned chesterfields from the London firm Howard & Sons, made for the drawing rooms and country houses of the 19th and early 20th centuries.