How2Day: Types of Antique Brass Pulls

Antique brass pulls added ornate character to furniture. Black Antique Brass Drawer Door Knob Pull Handle image by James Phelps from Fotolia.com
Brass was commonly used to in the 18th and 19th centuries to make these pulls. There were different types of pulls: knobs, bin pulls, cabinet handles, drawer pulls, ring pulls and teardrop pulls that suited different furniture pieces. Popular styles included Empire, William & Mary and Sheraton.

In the 18th century, cabinet knobs were made of wood and used sparingly in carpentry. It was only at the beginning of the 19th century that the cabinet knob was put into use. These early knobs were usually cast in bronze, finished by hand and attached to the cabinet with a hand-cut integral woodscrew. In the late 18th and late 19th centuries, American furniture manufacturers George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton started to make brass knobs. They incorporated big decorated faces on these knobs. The designs were pressed into thin brass sheets, then spun onto a heavy mass of solid brass.

Bin pulls, also known as cup, finger or crescent pulls, are upside-down, cup-shaped pulls that allow you to stick your fingers under it to open cabinets and drawers. Often found on freestanding chest drawers, built-in dressers and kitchen cabinets, brass bin pulls are more compact than knob or ring pulls and give furniture a more streamlined look.

Often used as door-knockers or on ornate dressers and cabinets, teardrop and ring pulls have either a teardrop-shaped pendant or a brass ring handle attached to a backplate that goes on the door, dresser or cabinet drawer. The popularity of ring handles grew in the 18th century and remained fashionable through the Empire and Sheraton period of the early 19th century. Ring and teardrop pulls were often set on a oval, medallion-shaped backplate, though round and octagonal-shaped were also produced. The cast handle of the ring pull would follow the outline of the backplate. It's suspended by a clasp at a 12 o'clock position on the plate where it is fixed in place with a nut. Solid brass teardrop pulls were popular with William & Mary style furniture from the 1680s to 1730s.

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