Website Links

o Minnesota Woodworkers Guild
o The Chipstone Collection at the Milwaukee Museum of Art. This is a great website because the pictures they have of their pieces are large, crisp, detailed and numerous. This is the best site that I have found for graphic information on antique originals.
o The Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the State Department. This site features some of the 18th Century furniture and other decorative objects that are part of this collection. Anyone can take a tour of these rooms by calling about four weeks in advance. The tour is very tourist friendly in that one can get very close to the objects without touching them. In addition flash photography is allowed and the tour is not rushed so one can take as many pictures as desired.
o Society of American Period Furniture Makers
o Londonderry Brasses probably produces the most authentic hardware. Nancy, the proprietor, is very nice and helpful. I got the, hard to find, Chinese Chippendale hardware used on my bombé chest from Nancy.
o Horton Brasses is a good source for period hardware. This is where I get my period nails as well as pulls, escutcheons and knobs.

Recommended Books

o Treasuries of State (Clement E. Conger) - This book is the reference book for the collection in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the State Department.
o American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Late Colonial Period: The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles (Morrison H. Heckscher)
o American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods (1725 - 1788) (Joseph Downs) - This book is the difinitive reference of the 18th Century Queen Anne and Chippendale furniture that is in the Winterthur Museum.
o The New Fine Points of Furniture (Albert Sack) - Many fine pieces are cataloged in this book. The unique addition of this book is that the author points out why a piece is considered a masterpiece or something less.
o American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection (J. Michael Flanigan) - Several large color plates including a Cadwalader Side Chair. This is a very good book.
o American Rococo, 1750-1795: Elegance in Ornament (Morrison H. Heckscher & Leslie Greene Bowman)
o Numerous Auction Catalogs from Sotheby's and Christie's. Auction catalogs are a great pictoral and historical reference for 18th Century antiques. Many great pieces that are not featured in any other publication show up in auction catalogs when they go on sale. In the newer catalogs most all of the photographs are in color and the photography is excellent.