Imagine yourself back in the elegance and beauty of yesteryear, perhaps that is why antiques are now eagerly sort after and treasured.  You can surround yourself with beautiful pieces but to fully experience their grandeur, you must indulge yourself and lay down to rest on an original brass and iron bed.

If only the bed could talk, it may say it was originally shipped from England used as ballast, arriving on the shores of the new land Australia.  Then perhaps, a wealthy landowner transported in hundreds of miles inland to his newly built homestead, having only ever seen it as a sketch in a mail order catalogue.  Each bed part then assembled perfectly in place.  Since the placement of the order, the lady of the house has been busy hand stitching a beautiful patchwork quilt and eagerly placing the finishing touches on her crocheted valance.

The high backed tester would hold a mosquito net to keep the nasties at bay whilst they slept in peace in the harsh outback.  Her beautiful crocheted canopy valance, covers the mossie net, and helps soften the appearance of the bed.  These beds mainly consisted of cast iron tester and four poster styles, including the popular 3 leaf clover style and the elegant cameo feature beds.  As time passed approximately from 1890 onwards the bed gained more attachments and adornments.  Hand painted porcelains, beveled mirrors, mother of pearl and postcards in glass tubes were added to individualise and personalise beds.  Some plainer iron beds were given quick lifts with gold painted touches and stick on decals.  The bed range was as diverse as the surrounds they were in.  From the simple and plain shearers bed, to the functional hospital bed and then to the beauty and grace of a four poster canopy.

These older beds are easily identified by the hoop iron lugs located along the side angle iron rails.  Strips of metal, one inch wide were interwoven to support the coconut or horsehair mattress, which in turn supported a kapok mattress.  (Remember the bed bug stories!)  This was followed by a wire meshing which was able to be tensioned, attached to a timber frame, which rested on top of the side iron rails, known commonly as a spring base.   Spring bases are still used, however, usually timber slats have been added for extra support or replaced with a timber slat frame.  The tester brackets, which supported the canopy, came in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Some had swinging arms, which supported drapes and were swung to the side, when preparing for bed, called the “Italian arms”.

However the Australian beds tended to be round and square testers and full canopies to support the much needed mossie nets.  The wheels varied from wooden, to light and dark porcelain, brass, some large and some small.  Another trick of our ancestors was a “secret chamber” in which to hide jewellery and special trinkets.  There certainly has been cases of a new owner getting more than they expected.  Craftsmen of the time sometimes placed a newspaper inside the brass ornaments to tighten the brass piece and avoid the rattles.  These are a very good way of dating beds and also offer interesting reading.  Our own bed had the Adelaide Times from 1911 tucked away inside.  So as you can see each bed is an individual as the people who owned them.  Beds can be restored to their former glory but should always maintain its own personality including retaining some of its hard earned character.

Some may have spent 80 years in the back of the haybarn, found in near perfect condition, but these are a rare find.  Usually they found new uses in life including house gates, pig pens, chook pens, cockatoo cage, sweet pea trellis including the porcelains and unfortunately a lot were thrown into property dams and dumps and even more used as concrete reinforcing for new buildings on the property.  Quality restorations are labour intensive and generally many hours are spent to find identical pieces which may be missing.  There is argument on the amount of replacement of pieces to retain the value.  Generally it is up to the individual to make their own opinion, always keeping mind the craftsmen restoring these beds can not “nip down to the corner store” to pick up an extra original part.  Reproduction pieces are available but the reputable craftsmen will only use these as a last resort.  

It is also common belief that Queen Size is a modern invention.  However the wealthy in the 1800’s, requested King and Queen size beds, mostly very grand and sometimes the complete bed was in brass.  Many double beds can be extended to Queen size, but again there is a difference to adding six inches and leaving large gaps, to spending the time to widen and maintain the original look, with people questioning if it is double or queens.   Keep in mind the overall restoration of the bed should not exceed the value, except of course in the case of sentimental restorations, which are priceless.

These days it is exciting to see a original brass bed in a antique shop but to find a business which specialises solely in original brass beds and allows you a wide choice of beds from the 1860’s – 1920’s is Timeless!

Mark and Lynne Bennett

Timeless Antiques

Specialists in Antiques Brass Bed Sales and Restorations.