• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

A bit of Birmingham's history now in the USA

A

Arzt

Brummie babby
We recently discovered a tag on an antique we bought in the USA, in 1990. It reads, "Manor Farm Road, Greet B'Ham England". There was a business name: "Broadlock Ltd."

Google maps shows Manor Farm Road in Greet, Birmingham is a very short street, almost entirely private homes. There are some automobile-related businesses on one end, a shop being renovated and another closing. Of course, 35 years ago it could have been quite different. Google also indicates that "Broadlock Ltd." was (is) a liquidation company.

But I'm interested in the origin of the piece. It's a heavily carved walnut sideboard. The base has cabinets for dishware. The top has a large mirror and some turned spindles holding up a crown molding. We always assumed it was from England, and now it's confirmed. We have also assumed it came from the 19th century, but it has undergone some repair work. I don't think Phillips Head screws were in use during the 19th C, but they might have come from a recent repair.

There are notes about a pub that was once on Manor Farm Road. An antique dealer probably would label items. Perhaps the sideboard came from the pub or a home-owner in a liquidation managed by Broadlock? Do the numbers reflect a price, or just a reference within Broadlock's files? Opinions on the age of the piece?
 

Attachments

  • Temp 1.jpg
    Temp 1.jpg
    206 KB · Views: 44
  • temp 2.jpg
    temp 2.jpg
    231.7 KB · Views: 46
  • Sideboard01.jpg
    Sideboard01.jpg
    211.8 KB · Views: 45
  • Sideboard02.jpg
    Sideboard02.jpg
    494.7 KB · Views: 46
hi arzt and welcome...hopefully some of our members can help you with the history of your sideboard...regarding the notes about a pub on manor farm road....the below street view shows what was once a pub on the corner..maybe someone could look in the directories to see what the pub was called..

lyn


www.google.com

Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com
 
Thank you! I do hope the piece isn't a reproduction. The Manor Farm Road label suggests Broadlock exported it, rather than manufacturing it. If the company was at Manor Farm road, then the piece probably wasn't owned by anyone in that neighborhood. In 1990 it was in an American antique store in Medina, Ohio. Medina is a town of 26,000, about 60 miles south of Cleveland (which is at the edge of Lake Erie in northern Ohio).

It has had an American tour. We moved often while I was in the Air Force, so the sideboard has been to Alamogordo New Mexico, St. Louis Missouri, Dayton Ohio, Albuquerque New Mexico, Knob Noster Missouri, San Antonio Texas and (now) Cleveland Ohio. The humidity in New Mexico is quite low, which resulted in a huge crack (the entire top of the sideboard is one piece of wood). Our good fortune was that a restorer who worked in a respected 17th C. preservation center (Williamsburg Virginia) moved to New Mexico for a relative's health. The repair can't be detected!

Pieces such as this must be common in homes in your part of the world (but quite special here). Do you have an opinion as to the era? My brief search of images on Google introduced me to a style called, "Late Victorian" which appears similar to me.
 
Morturn said:
If you take that bottom centre draw out and photograph the dovetail joints on the front and back corners, we can get a better guess at its age and authenticity.
Click to expand...
that is a good suggestion mort...i have been looking on ebay and there are lots of similar designed mahoganny sideboards for sale that are genuine victorian ones..sticking my neck out here but i would think arzt is genuine and i would agree that broadlock is only the exporter not the maker..

lyn
 
Evening mail, Jan 1983.
The company was started in 1981. Left trail of angry customers across the country, claiming they had paid for expensive reproduction furniture which never arrived.
(The start of 1981 mentioned in article may be wrong)

IMG_4080.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Here are photos of that drawer. There are dovetails on both the front and back. The thin vertical line is common to hand-cut dovetails, in which the carpenter scribed a layout line with a fine knife. I was pleased to see the very tiny pins (triangle-shaped bits of end grain seen from the side, which are part of the front).
The drawer bottom is a much wider piece of walnut than one can find in a lumber yard today. It isn't plywood or a veneer; the grain pattern is the same on both surfaces.
The hardware has a very fine stamped number on the left side. It's attached with slotted screws.
 

Attachments

  • Sideboard 06.jpg
    Sideboard 06.jpg
    453.7 KB · Views: 14
  • Sideboard 05.jpg
    Sideboard 05.jpg
    863.7 KB · Views: 14
  • Sideboard 04.jpg
    Sideboard 04.jpg
    612.8 KB · Views: 14
  • Sideboard 03a.jpg
    Sideboard 03a.jpg
    528.8 KB · Views: 14
Last edited:
My Grandmother used to have a sideboard very much like that, but I have no idea of its history.

When the houses in Aston were being demolished in the 1960's she moved to a flat in Newtown and could not take it with her so it was left there.

William.
 
Arzt said:
Here are photos of that drawer. There are dovetails on both the front and back. The thin vertical line is common to hand-cut dovetails, in which the carpenter scribed a layout line with a fine knife. I was pleased to see the very tiny pins (triangle-shaped bits of end grain seen from the side, which are part of the front).
The drawer bottom is a much wider piece of walnut than one can find in a lumber yard today. It isn't plywood or a veneer; the grain pattern is the same on both surfaces.
The hardware has a very fine stamped number on the left side. It's attached with slotted screws.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the phots. So far so good. The hand cut dovetails indicate its possibly pre 1895 and the hardwood draw sides and bottoms indicate its English. American draws tend to be made in popular.

That single board wide draw bottom looks great too. Can I ask you for a picture of the underside of the draw too please.
 
The drawer bottom is pictured and there is a closer view of one edge. The bottom is a single piece, planed flat on both surfaces, but is thicker than the groove in the drawer sides. So the bottom has been further beveled for a width of about 1" (2.54 cm for you folks) to fit it within that groove.

Oh, and you're right, I make furniture (as an amateur) and Americans often do use poplar for drawer sides. But when I intend to impress the recipient I use maple. If I dovetail the piece either makes a contrast with walnut. (Why go to all that work if nobody notices?)
 

Attachments

  • Sideboard 07.jpg
    Sideboard 07.jpg
    926.6 KB · Views: 10
  • Sideboard 08.jpg
    Sideboard 08.jpg
    652.6 KB · Views: 10
Excellent. The hand planed raised panel draw bottoms were common before the mid-19th century. The idea being the ½ thick bottom panel would create a weak area on the draw side rebates (rabbets) so they were slimed down to ¼ inch. Interestingly, this was the precursor of the raised panel door front.

As you will be aware, all these techniques can be replicated by any reasonably skilled craftsman, I have done several. Saying that, your piece is looking authentic, that single board draw bottom says a lot about the age of this piece. I would say its looking like mid-19th century and that Broadlock acted as an antique dealer and exporter.

This draw is one I made in about 2010, I’m quite a fan of fine dovetail pins and popular draw sides.

DrawSide.jpg
 
Last edited:
Morturn said:
Excellent. The hand planed raised panel draw bottoms were common before the mid-19th century. The idea being the ½ thick bottom panel would create a weak area on the draw side rebates (rabbets) so they were slimed down to ¼ inch. Interestingly, this was the precursor of the raised panel door front.

As you will be aware, all these techniques can be replicated by any reasonably skilled craftsman, I have done several. Saying that, your piece is looking authentic, that single board draw bottom says a lot about the age of this piece. I would say its looking like mid-18th century and that Broadlock acted as an antique dealer and exporter.

This draw is one I made in about 2010, I’m quite a fan of fine dovetail pins and popular draw sides.

View attachment 199188
Click to expand...
Impressive from a time served joiner
 
Morturn, when you say mid-18th c, did you mean that, rather than mid-19th? Not necessarily doubting it, just checking.....

Chris
 
Morturn said:
Excellent. The hand planed raised panel draw bottoms were common before the mid-19th century. The idea being the ½ thick bottom panel would create a weak area on the draw side rebates (rabbets) so they were slimed down to ¼ inch. Interestingly, this was the precursor of the raised panel door front.

As you will be aware, all these techniques can be replicated by any reasonably skilled craftsman, I have done several. Saying that, your piece is looking authentic, that single board draw bottom says a lot about the age of this piece. I would say its looking like mid-19th century and that Broadlock acted as an antique dealer and exporter.

This draw is one I made in about 2010, I’m quite a fan of fine dovetail pins and popular draw sides.

View attachment 199188
Click to expand...
Very nicely done!
 
The mention of Manor Farm Road, Greet bought back memories. My mother, her brother and sister together with there parents lived in that road.
The pub on the corner was indeed called the Greet Inn.
I will ask my cousin as to whether she remembers Broadlock Ltd
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top