CLICK HERE to view this pattern's gallery

I have seen just about as many Belter chairs and sofas that do not quite fit into one of the ten listed patterns as do fit. Some of these chairs and sofas could be early or late versions of one of the regular patterns, some are undoubtedly combinations of two or more patterns and some are different from any of the patterns. There are any number of reasons some of the furniture fits neatly into a pattern category and some doen't.

One explanation is that a lot of the furniture was destroyed or lost when it went out of style. Some of it surely just broke or wore out. Belter furniture was popular painted and used as lawn furniture in the 1930's. It is possible entire patterns could have been used up in these ways.

Another explanation is that a good part of no specific pattern Belter furniture might be made up of either early (1840's) or late (1860's) variations of Belter's regular patterns. There is evidence Belter produced some, perhaps all, of his patterns over a period of many years. I believe the amount of no specific pattern furniture provides some evidence that either Belter refined and improved upon his designs over a period of many years, or that he had some other reason to produce many pieces that were nearly the same but a little different from the rest.

A third explanation is that Belter made a lot of furniture to order. Remember, the people buying this furniture when it was new had to be very wealthy in order to be able to afford it. Perhaps some of these people wanted their furniture to be unique and had it custom built just for them.

I suspect the answer to the question "Why so much no specific pattern furniture?" is a combination of all these reasons and probably many more.

CLICK HERE to view this pattern's gallery