All sets are suitable for use in traditional cast iron
fireplaces and any other installations where glazed tiles
are normally fitted. It is not always possible to find
undamaged fireplace sets so some may include repaired
tiles or tiles with some damage none of which are cause
for concern especially after fitting. In most cases chips
to side and top edges will be hidden behind the fireplace
frame. When fitted and viewed normally as in a typical
cast iron fireplace at 3 - 4 feet away, all these sets
look great.
Similarly when fitting in washstands or indeed any
other situation where tiles are framed edges are hidden
and damage not visible.
All are cleaned and ready to fit, if there are any
remains of previous adhesive or mortar is very minimal
and will not impede fitting.
There are always colour variations in a set of tiles
these can not be considered defects for indeed in
original catalogues colour variations are clearly shown
almost as if they were celebrated, certainly they were
considered an intrinsic part of the product. Colour
variations certainly do add to the visual pleasure giving
depth and interest, plain tiles or larger areas such as
backgrounds with perfectly even colouring usually look
flat.
In most situations lighting conditions are quite
different on either side of the fireplace in particular
one side will face a window and the other away, in the
evenings illumination is never perfectly consistent
whether from electric lighting or firelight.
Quite often we will get sets of tiles where one or two
look quite different, we have often bought original
fireplaces with sets mixed from different manufacturers
particularly the more popular transfer printed designs.
Such situations give us somewhat of a dilemma as people
tend to be more concerned with colour matching nowadays.
We use our best judgment, if variations are wide we will
sell tiles individually, sometimes we can replace with
tiles from stock to make a better match than was in the
original fireplace or washstand.
Where we have sets of twelve we will usually sell just
ten. Twelves are useful for fireplaces with tiled
canopies which usually had two in the canopy. There are
many different types of fireplaces some with even more
tiles, it is exceedingly difficult to find larger sets
than twelve. There are also unusual or rare fireplaces
with combinations such as eight inch down the sides and
six inch across the top, an original set for such is just
about impossible to find and often they had bespoke or
mixed pattern tiles.
For sets with 6x6 and 6x3 tiles we will consider
swapping for others shown with other sets. We do use our
best judgment in matching although most 6x3 are fairly
nondescript on purpose to emphasise the 6x6 many original
combinations we see are rather an odd combination. There
will usually be an extra charge if only because we have
to do another set of pictures and rewrite the web
pages.
For appropriate dates for your house circa dates
indicate the mid point of the believed production period
and so a few years before or after is good, popular
designs obviously were usually continued until their
market faded. Design registration dates indicate when the
design was registered which will be very close either way
by a month or two from when the design went in to
production, popular designs may have been produced for a
couple of decades. Where registration numbers are
actually shown on the tiles they will most likely have
been made within three years as there is little point
showing an out of date copyright for it then becomes an
invitation to copy.
