Collector’s Guide

Henry Windsor’s Finish Formulas

As you may now know from having read my brief biography of Henry Haven Windsor (1859-1922), between the years 1909 and 1912 the publisher of Popular Mechanics wrote three volumes of Mission Furniture: How To Make It. In 1980, Dover Books reissued…

To Refinish — or Not To Refinish?

Collecting and living with Arts and Crafts furniture carries with it both responsibilities and challenges. We have a responsibility to care for, protect it, and preserve its original design, construction, and finish. But what do we do when the…

A Sad Reunion

In 1976, as a young high school teacher, I visited the Saint Louis Art Museum. At the time I collected Golden Oak furniture:  pressed back chairs, curved-glass secretaries, fancy trim headboards, and claw-footed Morris chairs. Looking back,…

Pioneer Publisher Gibbs Smith Passes Away

Sometimes our lives are changed by people we never get a chance to meet. Not long after I left my budding, five-year career as a high school English teacher, I was awakened to the Arts and Crafts movement by the sight of twelve matching Roycroft…

The Rose Valley Community and its Arts & Crafts Furniture

by Mary Jane Penzo. The history of Rose Valley as a continuing community -- and the quality of its Gothic style furniture produced from 1901-1906 -- make it an important American Arts & Crafts center, worthy of greater recognition than…

A Mystery Table

One of the many enjoyable aspects of publishing this website is getting photographs and stories from collectors regarding a new discovery. That was the case when one of our readers sent me a series of pictures of a circular oak table he recently…

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