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November, 2018 The Antique Shoppe Page 15
everlastingly in a certain style bed.
COMMON SENSE and almost immediately spool turned beds and cribs were affectionately called “Jenny
She became fond of a particular type of spool turned bed during her visit to America

ANTIQUES Linds.”
The problem was that most of the “Jenny Lind” beds and cradles were not the same
as the one she slept in according to historical records. Most of the so-called Jenny
By Fred Taylor Linds were simply spool, beds made popular by the Elizabethan Revival of spool tuned
furniture in America 1825-1865 aided by the invention of the multiple cutting head
lathe. The spool bed with the rounded shoulders appeared after 1850 and it is doubtful
SPOOL BED that Jenny ever saw one of those. Early spool turned beds had solid headboards with
sharp corners and spool tuned posts and spindles in the footboard. They were rope
beds held together by iron bolts through each post into the rails. By the 1830s these
Jenny Never Slept Here beds were assembled all over the country using factory made, mass produced turnings.
This is the kind of bed that kept Jenny Lind happy.
A lot of curious and spurious information has polluted the modern vocabulary of So, the wrong type bed became known as the Jenny Lind and is consistently one of
antique furniture in the last 100 years. Some of this was done inadvertently, some the most popular style beds sold in America today. On the other hand, who really cares
through ignorance promulgated by people who say a lot more than they really know except furniture purists like you and me. Right? If you call that style bed a “duck” and
and some of it through commercial attempts to establish a brand name or just to everybody completely understands which bed you are talking about it really doesn’t
increase sales. matter. Communication is the key. So, the “Jenny Lind” bed can be placed right along
One of the most egregious events was the introduction of the name Governor with the modern “Duncan Phyfe” dining room set, the “Beau Brummel” vanity, the
Winthrop to the form of the bookcase secretary. As I noted in this space in my column “Colonial” rocker and the “Gov. Winthrop” bookcase/secretary and it will be right at
“Flights of Fancy - Imaginary Names,” the good Governor lived almost 100 years before home.
the form was invented and he certainly did not own one. The vocabulary was poisoned Send your comments, questions and pictures to me at PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423 or email them
by the Winthrop Furniture Co. of Boston in 1924 when they introduced a new model of to me at info@furnituredetective.com
bookcase secretary and called it “The Gov. Winthrop.” The name was picked up by wags Visit Fred’s website at www.furnituredetective.com and check out the downloadable “Common Sense
and has been used improperly ever since. Antiques” columns in .pdf format. His book “HOW TO BE A FURNITURE DETECTIVE” is now available for
$18.95 plus $3.00 shipping. Send check or money order for $21.95 to Fred Taylor, PO Box 215, Crystal River,
Another common rewriting of history surrounds the ubiquitous spool turned beds FL 34423
with rounded shoulders that seem to show up everywhere. Even baby beds and cradles Fred and Gail Taylor’s DVD, “IDENTIFICATION OF OLDER & ANTIQUE FURNITURE”, ($17.00 + $3.00 S&H)
are made in that style. And of course, they are commercially and generically and are also available at the same address. For more information call (800) 387-6377 (9AM-4PM Eastern, M-F
mistakenly called “Jenny Lind” beds. only), fax 352-563-2916, or e-mail info@furnituredetective.com. All items are also available directly from the
website, www.furnituredetective.com
Johanna Maria Lind was a Swedish opera singer born the illegitimate daughter of a
bookkeeper in Stockholm in 1820. Her mother ran a girl’s day school and very early on
she noticed her daughter had an unusually fine singing voice. At age nine she auditioned
for and was accepted to the Swedish Royal Theater School. By the next year she was PLANT
singing onstage and by age 17 was featured in the Royal Swedish Opera, having picked
up the nickname “Jenny.”
On a tour of Denmark in 1842, she met the famous writer Hans Christian Andersen CITY
who fell madly in love with her. She inspired him to write three of his famous works
“The Ugly Duckling”, “The Angel”, and “The Nightingale.” The latter eventually became
her second nickname and stage name “The Swedish Nightingale.”
Throughout the 1840s she toured Europe and was the toast of the musical continent,
but she was essentially unknown in America even though she toured in a production in Becki’s Neat Old Stuff
1845 and 1846 sponsored by American showman and promoter P.T. Barnum. By 1849
Barnum decided she should tour America and in 1850 she signed a contract to do just (Vendor 22)
that for $1,000 per performance, plus expenses, for 150 concerts. By September 1850 AT
she had renegotiated the contract and MISS RUBY’S ANTIQUES
received her $1,000 per performance
plus a cut of the profits of the hall. Pretty 119 N. Collins St.
heady stuff for the 1850s. 3 Plant City
Barnum actively promoted her tour
and she was a great success with the
American public when she returned to Offering furniture, primitives,
Europe in 1852. Lind’s legacy includes collectibles and estate items
tributes to her all over America and
Europe in the form of place names of 50% off most items
towns, parks, chapels, a locomotive,
clipper ships, pubs, works of art and on Wednesdays 3

BRANDON Somewhere In Time

Brandon Blvd “Antiques - Collectibles & More”
75
1 Kings Ave Parsons Rd The Shoppes of LaViva
Lumsden Rd
720 W. Lumsden Rd.
Brandon, FL
301
813-684-0588

Providence Rd
The bed on top is generally called Bloomingdale Ave Open Mon.-Sat. 11-5, Sun 12-5
Lithia Pinecrest Rd
a Jenny Lind bed but the bottom bed is Like us on Facebook: Somewhere in Time Brandon, FL
the true example of the form.

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