Monday, April 8, 2013

The Opium Bed

These cups form the finials on each of the four posts.
I have only seen opium beds in movies, but I think I found one.  Actually, Olive from Olive Out found it while we were out at yard sales.  She saw the turquoise and knew I would fall in love. Read Olive's latest post here.

 I bargained hard for it.  It came from a container shipped from Europe several years ago.  The pieces of the bed nailed into a wooden crate.  The platform was not included. 


 If anyone knows anything about this bed, please let me know.

I love it dearly.


The two end panels
A couple who kept showing up just before us or just after us at each sale warned us the next stop had a pile of junk and totes full of adult toys.

Now who could resist that!

When we arrived, we saw the junk and had to scramble around it to find the treasures.  I found some old pulls and some finials.  

The adult toys?  Well, Olive did not peek, but I had to.  They were all wrapped in new boxes.  Whew! 




Back to the opium bed.

Olive saw it in a stack of furniture pieces.

There might have been other treasures hidden in that pile, but I only saw the turquoise bed.

The wood is a very fine-grained wood with the turquoise paint embedded in the grain.
















I have painted furniture for decades.  You cannot fake patina with such beauty as this. 

It is like satin to the touch.















The side rails are heavily carved with a cross and vine design.  I looked at probably a thousand beds the last few days and cannot find this exact style.   The bed is made to sit in the middle of the room.















 These side rails have pegs to slide into the paneled boards.  They sit very low to the floor.









This is the best photograph I could manage (you know how bad I am at photography).




























 I just love these carved pieces!















 The straight piece with spindles is designed to fit across the back of the bed.

The front piece is hinged like a gate.


The opium bed is currently living in the back of my truck.  I have to make the decision:  Does it stay or is it destined for the booth?

I love it dearly.



Do I sell it by the piece and break up the bed or try to sell it as is?  Remember the platform is missing and that is what would hold it together.   It might just have to come inside for a little while - just to see if it fits somewhere.

Oh, and the adult toys?  A young lady bought all the totes.  Olive and I hope she plans to sell them on some internet site.  

There are two more posts this week on my vintage finds.  It was treasure city out there, folks.

See y'all!



Funky Junk


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30 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness.....I love it! I was just about to head out to walk and saw that you just posted and I could not leave without checking out your treasure...:) That bed is absolutely gorgeous and I think I would have to keep it if it were mine! Let me know what you decide!

    Blessings, Vicky
    Life On Willie Mae Lane

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  2. What a crazy good find! I hope you keep it, although, I could think of about a million things I could do with those parts!

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  3. What on earth is an OPIUM bed??? It's certainly stunning. And with Olive's RECENT post, I'm kinda disappointed that we didn't get to see the adult toys!!! :))))

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  4. Great find and it seems like opium beds go for a hefty price. Maybe you could check to see if there's a platform available. It would be fabulous to put it together at your booth (would you have the space) and see the response. Beautiful pieces you have there!

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  5. I'm thinking you should consider selling it through Craigslist or Ebay because someone looking for that might pay without the platform. Maybe someone has a platform and needs the cool pieces. That wood is amazing. It looks almost like rusty metal with copper patina turned turquoise. Just gorgeous with the carvings. Then again, if you can command a price for its parts, you could let a number of people get a chance at enjoying that gorgeous wood.
    Liz

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  6. Beautiful! You could keep it and put a sign above it that read, 'Sherlock Holmes Smoked Here.' :-)

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  7. Wow! What an amazing find Donna! I absolutely love those side rails!! I don't think you see something like that every day.

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  8. Please please PLEASE do NOT break this up! It will lose it's identity this way and will NEVER be back together again--like Humpty Dumpty.

    I just had a crying moment when some one I was trying to buy something from told me had had sold the CONTENTS of a very rare promotional item SEPERATELY. Now--no one will know just exactly WHAT was in there--and altho it is not a rare "antique" TODAY--it is now seperated forever unless the guy who bought the first part got lucky and bought the container. Does this make sense? It's like if you bought a portrait in a frame...taking the picture out of the frame does not change things much. But if this was a Rembrandt and the frame had a plaque on it with this info and had been custom made for this one picture on earth---

    Well--please--sell it or keep it but PLEASE keep it TOGETHER! Of course if you use it for display you don't have to use all the pieces together at the same time! I would make sure to label each piece and take pics of them together and make sure that your family knows what this is! Great find!

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  9. What an exciting find! You'll have tons of fun researching it.

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  10. How interesting is this gorgeous piece. I would love to see you put it together,even if you could add a new piece to maybe make a day bed? Gorgeous colour. :)

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  11. Me again,I forgot to say thank you for visiting me and your nice comment about MY Shed. I read your comment to my hubby and he had a crafty smile when I read it. I think you may be right,he sneekily got me to clean out his shed,and here's me thinking he is a sweetie. He he :) I don't mind at least I got my potting shed,and I will make a sign.I am now following :)

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  12. Hey Donna; I have only seen an Opium Bed twice, and that was the last time that I was in England and Japan respectively.
    I would not sell it, as you will not ever come across another bed which is anything like it in this Lifetime.
    If it were mine, I would have a platform made, and keep it, and enjoy it. If I wanted to sell it, I would then sell it all together as a set.
    PLEASE Donna, under no circumstances should you break up this Bed for pieces!!!
    How I wish that this bed was mine, as I would gladly sell an Antique Oak Bedroom set, and make room for this bed!!!!
    These Beds were very popular hundreds of years ago, when Opium was used on a daily basis. Only the wealthy would have owned such a bed.
    Donna Please contact me for more information. Thank-You.

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  13. Oh my goodness, Nancy IS DISAPPOINTED we did not show the adult toys? I am slayed by that. The bed is something serious. Sunny sounds like she knows about it. I will not forget our finding it for sure. What a great junking day my friend:-0

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  14. WOW Donna ... what a find. The bed is beautiful I hope you will find room for it in your house. That is one-in-a-million find. Love the wood.
    Blessings,
    Audrey Z. @ Timeless Treasures

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  15. That bed has such a lovely finish. And who can refuse such intricate carved details!

    No photos of the sex toys? Ha ha! What unusual items for sale. Oh my!

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  16. I'm not sure what to say about the bed. It's very pretty. But pair that with the fact that they were selling adult toys and I'm getting a weird vibe out of that there bed. Just saying.

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  17. The bed is amazing...I don't know how you will decide what to do with it! Thank you for sharing with us at the Give Me The Goods Link Party!
    www.dimplesandpigtales.blogspot.com

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  18. Wow! Love this bed, great find!!

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  19. Love the bed. If you sell it, put a high price on it so you won't regret it. Just sayin'...Connie

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  20. That bed is amazing. Everything about it is magnificent: the color, the patina, the cross and vine design. Oh, you're so lucky to have found it.

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  21. IT seeems that you have found a treasure. I wouldn't try selling it until I had explored all my own options, one of which might be building or having built a platform for it. If not that, how about some of the pieces as wall art. Oh yes, it has possibilities.

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  22. I concur..keep it or keep it together. :D

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  23. What a fabulous find...don't piece it out, please. The color and intricate carvings are beautiful. Find a good cabinetmaker to make a platform...then if you can't find a use for it, sell it...it would look great on a sun porch.

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  24. I have to confess, I was totally clueless on this one. but after googleing it I get the picture. I'm laughing just thinking of you and Olive scoping this baby out. I'd have loved to have been a mouse in Olive's pocket. she's a hoot!

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  25. That bed is STUNNING! I don't think I could bear to part with it. If I didn't have room for it, I'd hang the pieces on the wall as art! Thank you for sharing it at to What We Accomplished Wednesdays. Have a lovely week!

    Hugs,
    Deborah

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  26. I love the patina on the bed. Unique. Thank you for sharing at Rustic Restorations Weekend!

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  27. I'm in love...the details and the pantina are AMAZING!!! WOW...double WOW...triple WOW!!!! hugs...

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  28. This reminds me of a recent visit to Palm Desert. My uncle and I were out shopping the many thrift stores in the area. Well, one of them had quite a collection of interesting toys.. displayed in glass cases! Certainly the first time I've seen those in a thrift store. And by the way, the prices were very high in Palm Desert.. fail!

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  29. I just think shopping with Olive would be a blast!

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