danemodsandy
Well-known member
Phil:
The Berkshire Breakfront was based on a breakfront design that Baker had already been producing for some years. Some dimensions were changed to accommodate the RCA equipment housed inside. Baker does not make this breakfront any more; collectors value surviving ones highly.
If anyone doesn't know Baker Furniture (a.k.a. Baker, Knapp & Tubbs), they are probably the highest-end furniture maker left in America. Baker pieces are all over the White House, where they give the correct period "look," while being sturdy enough for everyday use, which is not the case with some of the priceless antiques in the Executive Mansion.
1948 wasn't exactly the dark ages - you could already have air-conditioning (central or window units), a dishwasher, an automatic washer and dryer, television, FM radio, tape recording, and a mobile phone in your car - if you were very rich and lucky enough to get one of the few assigned bandwidth slots in your city. All these things were expensive luxuries, not everyday reality, but they were out there. RCA and CBS were already prototyping color television (with RCA's NTSC system, introduced in '54, winning FCC approval as the nation's color standard), and microwave ovens were already in use by the Armed Forces and in restaurants; civilian household versions would debut by 1954. Auto air conditioning was actually available, but only as aftermarket equipment in '48; Packard had not re-introduced its prewar factory air after hostilities ceased. In 1953, factory auto air was brought back, this time for good. By 1954, the only present-day consumer luxuries not available in some form were the personal computer, Internet service, GPS, cell phones, jet airplane travel, stereophonic music equipment and home video recording equipment.
BTW, Rex: The usual fate of a malfunctioning Berkshire Breakfront was not getting broken up - it was getting gutted, so that it could be used as an actual breakfront. You were still talking an oh-my-God expensive piece of handcrafted furniture in mahogany and satinwood, from the most recognized name in fine reproduction furniture. Gutted examples turn up from time to time - it's complete ones that are so scarce. [this post was last edited: 7/6/2013-12:19]
The Berkshire Breakfront was based on a breakfront design that Baker had already been producing for some years. Some dimensions were changed to accommodate the RCA equipment housed inside. Baker does not make this breakfront any more; collectors value surviving ones highly.
If anyone doesn't know Baker Furniture (a.k.a. Baker, Knapp & Tubbs), they are probably the highest-end furniture maker left in America. Baker pieces are all over the White House, where they give the correct period "look," while being sturdy enough for everyday use, which is not the case with some of the priceless antiques in the Executive Mansion.
1948 wasn't exactly the dark ages - you could already have air-conditioning (central or window units), a dishwasher, an automatic washer and dryer, television, FM radio, tape recording, and a mobile phone in your car - if you were very rich and lucky enough to get one of the few assigned bandwidth slots in your city. All these things were expensive luxuries, not everyday reality, but they were out there. RCA and CBS were already prototyping color television (with RCA's NTSC system, introduced in '54, winning FCC approval as the nation's color standard), and microwave ovens were already in use by the Armed Forces and in restaurants; civilian household versions would debut by 1954. Auto air conditioning was actually available, but only as aftermarket equipment in '48; Packard had not re-introduced its prewar factory air after hostilities ceased. In 1953, factory auto air was brought back, this time for good. By 1954, the only present-day consumer luxuries not available in some form were the personal computer, Internet service, GPS, cell phones, jet airplane travel, stereophonic music equipment and home video recording equipment.
BTW, Rex: The usual fate of a malfunctioning Berkshire Breakfront was not getting broken up - it was getting gutted, so that it could be used as an actual breakfront. You were still talking an oh-my-God expensive piece of handcrafted furniture in mahogany and satinwood, from the most recognized name in fine reproduction furniture. Gutted examples turn up from time to time - it's complete ones that are so scarce. [this post was last edited: 7/6/2013-12:19]
