Reindeer Antiques recently acquired a fine selection of French antique furniture in the Louis XV stlye. During the later 17th Century French daily life was dictacted by a strict formality due to the traditions followed by Louis XIV and his court at Versailles. At Versailles, everything from the toilette ceremony in the morning to the coucher ceremony at night was carried out in front of the public eye. Throughout the Régence and the early 1700s the French began to reject this strict way of life and so there was an increasing desire for intimacy, luxury and comfort in the domestic space.

Cosying up with a book is still one of the best ways to relax these days! Storing books however can often be an issue depending on the size of your book collection. Why not consider an antique bookcase which can be very practical and eye-catching- Here at Reindeer Antiques we have a wide range of antique bookcases and cabinets that come in a variety of shapes, styles and woods.

Whether you live in a contemporary townhouse or a house in the countryside antique furniture can really add a homely touch to your kitchen. At Reindeer Antiques we have a large supply of antique furniture which is perfect for decorating any type of kitchen. From chopping vegetables, to cooking and washing up, the kitchen is often the busiest room in the house! Therefore it is important to buy hard-wearing, utilitarian and practical antique furniture for your kitchen.

At Reindeer Antiques we have a wide selection of antique mirrors in various shapes and sizes. An antique mirror would make the perfect addition to any home, whether you are looking for a large overmantle mirror for a hallway or living room, or a small elegant toilet mirror for a bedroom.

Pembroke and sofa tables were highly fashionable pieces of furniture in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In fact in Jane Austen's unfinished 1803-4 novel "The Watson's" a pembroke table is described as functioning as a tea-table: 'peoples arranged with all the honours of visiting round the fire, and Miss Watson seated at the best Pembroke table, with the best tea-things before her'.

An antique oak dresser is one of the most useful and practical pieces of English antique furniture. Oak dressers are perfect in a traditional kitchen displayed with the family china but a dresser is also equally at home in a smart London townhouse with a piece of modern art displayed above it. Oak dressers offer a large amount of storage but will fit into most spaces because they are shallow from front to back.

Originally an antique desk was a box or board with a hinged sloping surface and a bureau was a flat-topped table with drawers underneath; as Adam Bowett has pointed out we have reversed the original meanings of 'desk' and 'bureau' over time.

A game of cards or a boardgame is still the perfect way to spend some quality time with your family- especially on a rainy day! In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, card and games tables were one of the most fashionable pieces of furniture in the home. Often the focus of a social event, they were brought out into the middle of a room and when they were no longer needed could be discreetly placed against the wall as an occasional table. Tables for cards and games such as chess and backgammon grew in popularity from the late sixteenth century.

When buying antique furntiure it is important to look out for pieces stamped with the mark of their maker, to help date and vaule a piece. They may be stamped in a variety of ways and often in more than one place. In France a strict guild corporation insisted on stamping and verifying every single piece of furntiure that was made. Britain did not have such strict regulations and so it is unusual and exciting to find antique British furniture that has been stamped by its maker. Often you find quite crude marks impressed on earlier pieces of furniture. In the 18th and 19th Century most marked furntiure had more sophisticated ink or hand-written inscriptions on paper labels or they were elegantly incised into the wood. The cabinet-makers Gillows of Lancaster and London are well-known for having correctly marked their furniture. They normally punched their stamp 'Gillows.Lancaster' onto the inside of drawers or onto the bottom of the piece. In fact the signatures and names of Gillows' workmen are pencilled on much of their furniture from this period! At Reindeer Antiques we are very fortunate to have some pieces of British furniture that still retain their original Maker's Mark.

Autumn Exhibition: A Sporting Miscellany

Reindeer Antiques, Issac and Ede & Jason Sandeberg