Quality Costs Less

This past week at the Redeux garage shop was especially busy and productive. Two china cabinets and an end table were given facelifts and are ready for sale. I’m pleased with the results and am always amazed by the quality of the vintage furniture we have. I was struck by this on Saturday evening when Debbie and I took a ride just to get out and wound up browsing through several well known overstock/salvage stores upstate (yes, I know, that's some date night!)

As we checked out everything from wash cloths made from cheesecloth (I actually bought these – great for wiping down furniture and discarding them after one use) to house wares (no bargains there) we walked through the furniture section. The area had quite a few shoppers, including college kids looking for bargain furniture to fill their dorm rooms or apartments with. They were discussing the colors and features of the bureaus, chairs and desks they would need. What struck me was the cheapness of the items and the high prices. Assemble-it– yourself, pressed wood night stands were selling for $80-$95, chests of drawers were listed for $300 and up and computer desks started at $75 and went as high as $150. I’ve bought this type of “furniture” myself in years gone by and know most of this furniture would be trash before the end of the school year, and not necessarily from abuse. Like many things being sold today, it’s disposable. The contrast between what we saw Saturday and what we have at Redeux is striking. Most of our pieces have lasted generations and are still going strong; and sell for a whole lot less than the kit pieces at the “discount” stores.

This coming week I’ll be concentrating on locating several items that folks stopping by the shop have requested. Desks are very popular and this past week we also had several requests for night tables and coffee tables.

Answer to question posted at Getting It, (the first Redeux post), (you can read the question in the Comments section): The questioner asked what I knew about a stamp placed on a piece of folding furniture made by the Lorraine Company. The stamp was issued by the Labor Department of the State of Connecticut.

My reply: The chairs (circa 1950 -1970) seem to be from the Lorraine Novelty Company which was located on Railroad & Hancock Avenues in Bridgeport, CT. This company manufactured /imported many types of novelty items including a folding chair / table set. The company had two divisions. The chairs were actually part of the Leggo toy company and the other Lorraine division was Carnivale Toys which had, I believe, all sorts of novelty toys.
The chair seats and some table tops were padded, thus requiring the stamp you mentioned issued from the State of CT. This stamp was required to be affixed on all furniture that was upholstered or that contained filling, such as mattresses. The CT Department of Labor includes the former CT Department of Factory Inspection, thus the inspection stamp issuing from the Labor Department.

Thanks to everyone for their response to Redeux!