After seven years of collecting the Queen Anne range of Tri-ang Period furniture, I finally completed the full set a few weeks ago!
It's not, generally speaking, a difficult range to collect and most pieces come up for sale fairly regularly, but there were two pieces which had eluded me for several years:
And here they are:
Queen Anne Upright Piano and Music Stool
Photo © Zoe Handy
I have missed out on the little Music Stool several times in the past, so I was delighted to eventually get my hands on one a couple of months ago.
I thought that was pretty good, but then, lo and behold, the rare as hens' teeth 'upright piano' came up for auction. I wasn't going to miss out on it, so I bid on it for my life and won - dancing around the house was involved, despite the eye-watering price!
Everything I know about this range of furniture comes from Marion Osbourne's excellent research, published in The Book of Tri-ang Furniture for the Dolls' House, 2013.
The range was made by Tri-ang from 1935 to 1940 and, given that it's made from 1mm birch plywood, it's amazing how much of it has survived the test of time, though several of my pieces do bear the scars.
There were twenty-three pieces in the range, identified as QA1-23 in price lists, with the Drawing Room and Dining Room pieces numbered QA1-14, the Bedroom pieces numbered QA15-19 and "Extras" numbered QA20-23.
And here are those twenty-three pieces:
Queen Anne Dining Cabinet (QA1)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Dining Cabinet (QA1) - Interior
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Writing Bureau (QA2)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Writing Bureau (QA2) - Interior
Photo © Zoe Handy
Pull-out Supports for Drop-down Front
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Writing Armchair (QA3)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Bedroom Chair with Ladder Back (QA4)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Chair with Splat Back (QA5)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Fire Screen (QA6)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Bedroom China Cabinet (QA7)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Easy Chair (QA8)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Settee (QA9)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Side Table with Imitation Marble Top (QA10)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Console Table (QA11)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Occasional Table (QA12)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Hanging Mirror (QA13)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Dining Table (QA14)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Footstool (QA15)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Wardrobe (QA16)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Wardrobe (QA16) - Inside
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Wardrobe (QA16) - Close-up of Hanger
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Bedstead (QA17) - Original Mattress and Bolster
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Dressing Mirror (QA18)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Chest of Drawers (QA19)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Grand Piano (QA20)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Grand Piano (QA20) - Open
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Grand Piano (QA20) - Close-up of Music Rest and Graphics Inside
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Upright Piano (QA21)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Upright Piano (QA21) - Keyboard Lid Up
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Upright Piano (QA21) - Top Open
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Music Stool (QA22)
Photo © Zoe Handy
Queen Anne Dresser with Plates (QA23) - (Missing one Back Leg)
The five metal plates are original and are attached to the dresser.
Photo © Zoe Handy
Purist collectors might consider my collection to be incomplete because in addition to the items shown above, the following might also be collected:
- The Grand Piano, the Upright Piano and the Music Stool (QA20-22) were also available in an "Ebony" finish as well as the "Walnut" one which all of my pieces have.
- The range could be bought in boxed sets for the bedroom, dining room and drawing room. Even if these weren't extremely rare, I'm not a boxed set kind of girl and prefer my furniture in dolls' houses!
- For more adventurous children (or parents, more likely), there was a "Constructional Drawing Room Set" and a "Constuctional Bedroom Set" available. These contained pre-cut furniture parts and the necessary tools and instructions to construct the furniture, upholster it and apply the walnut effect finish. Again, this isn't my sort of thing (I would have to construct them!) but they are interesting to see and, though they did include the same "petit point design" upholstery fabric, they do explain why some pieces of the range are to be found with different upholstery fabrics on them (the chair shown above with the QA10 Side Table for example), where perhaps the constructor decided to use a different one to suit the colour scheme in their dolls' house better. It also explains why they the Queen Anne Period furniture is to be found with much variation in the finish, and the instructions reveal that the finish was achieved by applying a white undercoat to the wood and then, when that was dry, applying the varnish on top and dabbing it with a rag.
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So, it took me seven years to collect the Queen Anne range and I wonder how long will it take to complete the even more elusive Jacobean range. To date, I've acquired twelve out of the nineteen different pieces which have been identified so far, so I'm getting there, but the quest continues!
Until next time,
Zoe
