Featured Mahogany Bookcase..Horner? Flint? or????

Happy 4th!!

This is the newest addition to the GHopper bookcase family. Its mahogany and mahogany veneers ca. 1890, made and purchased in New York. Its built like the proverbial battleship, with applied Ionic pilasters at each end with an aesthetic daisy in the center. It's got lion paw feet at each end. My favorite element is the leaded glass doors, with beveled quatrefoils at the top, Most unique are the original mirrors in each bay; they're held in by the shelves and fall forward without them.

So...detective time. It's definitely built of to the highest standards, and is a strain for two strong men to lift. The materials, craftsmanship, and size sound like Horner. However, Horner bookcases of this size usually have carved dragons or caryatids at each end. There is also a frieze over the bookcase bays. I believe there may have been one on this unit and it was removed for some reason. However, the mahogany underneath is not scarred by glue or nail hole remnants.

However, I don't believe that Horner used leaded glass. His competitor, George Flint, with whom he merged operations just prior to 1915 and his retirement, did make use of leaded glass doors. But Flint's build quality was not equal to this.

So.....is it Horner? Flint? or are you aware of another New York maker?

Thanks for your thoughtful consideration!!

 

That's a proud little piece. Love its sense of movement.

Debora

 

I have no clue, but I would love to own that piece.
Enjoy

 

Not a clue, but it would hold a heckuva cookbook collection. Nice one.

 

Who cares who made it. It's a fantastic bookcase, although with a backing of mirrors, I would most likely jump to the conclusion that it was a glass cabinet.

 

delightful.

 

@Brian Warshaw

That occurred to me as well. A significant difference between display cabinets and bookcases is that often bookcases have solid sides and display cabinets have glass sides and yes, mirrored backs. So this is definitely a bookcase, although the mirrored backs -which have aged consistently with being 130 years old - are original. Definitely unusual.
I’m mainly playing sleuth on this for fun, although a definite attribution can mean thousands in resale, whenever that time comes. Much later than sooner, hopefully. The idea is to love the piece, and I do!!

 

@Ghopper1924
Now you mention it, I knew that glass cabinets had glass sides, I was just taken by the belief that bookcases didn't have mirrored backs. It's a strange one, but doesn't take anything away from its loveliness.

 

Hey Brian:
No worries! You had a good point, worth addressing. The mirrors may have been a one-off, or a special order, who knows? On the face of it it makes no sense to put books on shelves in front of mirrors, what’s the advantage? Yet there they are.

 

WOW!!! Didn't YOU find a SWEET one!!!!!!!!!! That's GORGEOUS!!!