Cochran's Choice #2

I'm sure you have been waiting out there with bated breath for the next Cochran's Choice Blog Award, so let's proceed, shall we? Everybody take a deep breath. Hear the drumroll? The cymbal? The envelope, please...

And the second Cochran's Choice Blog Award for 2008 goes to...Rare Victorian.


Here's a blog that's part of a website by John Werry, a young, savvy antique dealer and rehabilitator who knows his Victorian furniture. John says in his bio that he only caught the bug in 2005, but he's already developed an informative blog on the subject which manages at the same time to be entertaining. Read his posts on "Manly Man's Antiques" for an example. He's not stinting on the "how-to's" either; check out his video on restoring a Merklen table that had been "shabby-chic'ed" thus obliterating its initial value.

The page has a lot of information on it, but it's well-organized, with no cutesy animations, and the typography and color choice is orderly and easy on the eye. He supports his habit with Google ads, but they don't dominate the page. A professional job.

John began by collecting Victorian furniture for his 1887 home, and delved into research "so I wouldn't get 'had' when I went shopping," as good a reason as any for beginning what some would consider a boring enterprise. I confess to an impulse to reward a young man deeply involved in a field that sometimes seems to be so heavily represented by the older generation. There's yet hope for the future of the antiques world.

Rare Victorian is interactive in three ways: You can comment on a blog post, join his forum or email him. I like that, too.

I selected Rare Victorian after reading the current post, about a "once magnificent rosewood roccoco parlor table" that had been thoughtlessly amputated to make a coffee table. The result looks a little like a graceful horse whose legs have been cut off at the knee. A sad tale, but I hope it has a happy ending, and we get to hear about it.