During the last half of the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century, a number of companies began to specialize in the making of fine reproductions of antique furniture. Some of the names of the very best makers are familiar to those who know and appreciate fine furniture: Baker, Charak, H. Sacks & Sons (Marlboro Manor), Joseph Gerte, Kaplan (Beacon Hill Collection), Kindel, Margolis, Old Colony Furniture Co., Potthast Bros., and Schmieg & Kotzian. The very best of these companies even built their reproductions almost entirely by hand, using traditional materials and methods to construct, carve and finish their furniture.
The term used in the antiques trade to describe this high quality, hand-made furniture is "custom mahogany." The term refers to the fact that rather than being mass produced, this furniture was built to an individual customer's order. In other words, work would not begin on a piece until a customer had selected a design and had placed an order. Designs, colors and finishes were all modified to fit the individual needs of the customer. Rather than using an assembly line, the furniture was bench-made by skilled master craftsmen.
The "custom mahogany" trade was at its peak from about 1925 until the outbreak of World War II in 1941. During the war, most of the companies devoted the greater part of their efforts to providing war materials rather than making furniture.
After the war, tastes in furniture began to turn away from the antique styles that had been popular before the war. By the 1970s, most of the "custom mahogany" makers had been driven out of business, succumbing to a combination of the public's changing taste in furniture, rising labor rates and a decrease in the availability of, and corresponding increase in the price for, high-quality mahoganies and other exotic cabinet woods.
While most of the custom mahogany makers are now gone, they left behind a legacy of beautiful and superbly crafted furniture.
