Branford "Ivy" Bronze Single Pocket Door Set, c1885

Description

One of the most popular of the high-end Aesthetic Movement hardware designs of the late 1880s, "Ivy" was designed by J.J. Kennedy for the Branford Lock Works of Branford, Connecticut and patented in January of 1884 (No. 14,536). Both remarkably ornate and yet subtle in its finely textured relief (notice the finely engraved ivy in the background fill pattern), the series was often found in the nicer upper-middle class and upper class homes of the 1880s.

Suspiciously similar to Corbin's similarly popular "Brocade" pattern, there is little doubt the two companies were fighting over the same visual turf. Interestingly, the "Ivy" design patent, No. 14,536, was applied for in November of 1883 – one month before Corbin's "Brocade" patent filing in December.