Abacus
Antique Dealers: Vintage Kitchen Sinks
Want
to relive the excitement of California's gold rush
of the mid 19th century? Or the grandeur of the Victorian
age? If your answer is a 'Yes', try installing an
antique sink in your kitchen and mull over the glorious
past of your ancestors while eating your meal.
Obtaining
a real antique or vintage kitchen sink is not going
to be easy. The kitchen sink from the pages of the
history book is likely to have developed cracks or
chinks and the one you are lucky to chance upon may
not have the necessary accessories like faucets to
make it workable in today's kitchen.
The
kitchen sinks of the mid 19th or early 20th century
were made of marble, porcelain, fireclay or copper.
They mostly came from Continental Europe - France
and Italy.
Kitchen
sinks from the early 20th century are quite difficult
to find in useable original condition. This helps
drive the price up.
To
take one example, a classic 1900 model of marble sink,
manufactured in Chicago by the Wolff Mfg. Co, which
the Los Angeles-based Vintage Plumbing has put up
for sale, has a 4' tall heavy French plate beveled
mirror back splash. It has full original mixer hardware
and complete supply and drain hardware below sink.
It has nickel plated brass cabriole legs and carved
soap dish in the slab drains into the basin. The store
has priced it at $8,900.
According
to the Vintage Plumbing, kitchen sinks from the teens,
20's and 30's are very popular among the customers
and so they have a fairly good stock of them. The
store stocks antique farm house kitchen sinks manufactured
by the Kohler's, Standard Sanitary Mfg Co, besides
the Wolff Mfg. Co. However, the store admits it is
difficult to find sinks in good condition.
