Where do you stamp/sign case pieces?
- Thread starter Ty G
- Start date
You are reading the forum of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers — people who build and study American period furniture.
Membership brings the whole forum, the annual journal and quarterly magazine, the members’ gallery and workbench, and chapters across the country. About membership
John McAlister
Well-known member
Ty, I've never heard of a "proper" place to sign or stamp any piece of furniture, nor do I have any idea where todays real pros sign theirs, but as an amateur, on case pieces I stamp (brand) my logo on the outside of a drawer side. It shows up well on the light colored poplar. John McAlister
Jack Plane
Well-known member
I don't know about American furniture, but with English furniture, any signed examples I've seen have been stamped on the top edge of the top drawer front.
dkeller_nc
Well-known member
American colonial furniture, if it's signed at all (which most wasn't), would typically be done in graphite on a drawer bottom (most common), inside of the case (less common), or stamped into the end-grain of a drawer side (rare). There are many photos of this type of branding in antiques books, typically photographed with in the infrared to make the faded graphite stand out from the oxidized and dirtied wood background.
In my case, I prefer not to sign pieces. That drives museum curators crazy to hear, but since I'm usually making something that went out of style 250 years ago, I'm not overly concerned about someone confusing one of my reproductions from an actual antique.
In my case, I prefer not to sign pieces. That drives museum curators crazy to hear, but since I'm usually making something that went out of style 250 years ago, I'm not overly concerned about someone confusing one of my reproductions from an actual antique.
If this discussion was useful, there are twenty years of them here. Join SAPFM to take part — the forum, the journal, the magazine and the members’ gallery come with membership.