Kittinger Enthusiasts

We're very happy to introduce this new aspect of Elmwood Company's website --- stories and photos from Kittinger enthusiasts!

Please contact us at email@ElmwoodCompany.com with stories and photos you'd like to share.
Thank You in Advance - Kim and Jim

Articles by:
• JOE H. / • NATHAN D. / • DICK D. / • KATHRYN H. / • DR. JIM FISGUS, Co-owner, The Elmwood Company / • CHRIS D.



Photos by Joe H.

May 2021 - Joe H.

My wife, Maria, and I have been collecting and enjoying Kittinger furniture for over two decades. My appreciation for the furniture started when I was visiting Maria and her parents at their second home in Williamsburg back in the late 1980’s. We would spend hours in the Craft House in Colonial Williamsburg wondering if we would ever be able to afford such beautiful furniture. Several years later we were married in Williamsburg and are fortunate to now have a second home ourselves there.

I first contacted Jim Fisgus in the mid 1990’s after seeing the small advertisement he had placed in the back of the Colonial Williamsburg magazine that was sent to donors like us. I called him and we had some very enjoyable, educating conversations about Kittinger furniture. He eventually sent me a binder with copied pages from many of the Williamsburg and/or Kittinger catalogs over the years which helped me appreciate the depth and breath of the Kittinger lineup. Soon thereafter I also got to know Kim Earl as she came on to help.

We purchased our first Kittinger piece of furniture in 1997. By then I had acquired many of the Williamsburg Craft House catalogs so I was educated on what pieces I wanted most. Maria and I had been in High Point, North Carolina at an antiques store when I spotted a Kittinger CW 200 Clifton High Chest. That was in 1994 ... three years later when we finally had saved up enough money I called the store to see if they still had it. Thankfully they did and we made our first Kittinger purchase. Quite a start!

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Our next two Kittinger pieces we acquired from Jim and Kim at Elmwood Company in 1998. They were a CW 38 Breakfront Cabinet and a 1929 chest. Many years later, we are fortunate to own over 200 Kittinger pieces - all but a couple of them at our home in Williamsburg. I don’t know the count for sure, but at least 100 of those pieces came from Elmwood Company. It’s been quite a relationship and we still love the furniture today, just as we did many years ago.

We have concentrated on collecting the Kittinger Colonial Williamsburg reproductions, and we are down to a few that we are still looking for (thanks, Kim!). We have several of the Kittinger Newport pieces as well. We also have many Kindel Winterthur, Baker Charleston, Baker Colonial Williamsburg, Stickley Colonial Williamsburg, Henkel Harris SPNEA, and Century Sutton Collection pieces as well. Our home is decorated primarily with Colonial Williamsburg reproductions from Kittinger, Virginia Metalcrafters, Karastan, Kirk Stieff, Oud Delft, Blenko/Leerdam, etc.

Some of our favorite pieces include all five of the clocks that were made for Colonial Williamsburg - the three tall case clocks and the two Chelsea/Kittinger clocks. The 1866 Centennial chest is probably the piece d’resistance of our collection. Over time I have come to appreciate the early Kittinger CW pieces the most - with the simple CW branding from the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.

For us, vintage Kittinger furniture - especially the authentic museum reproductions - represents the skill, craftsmanship, and beauty that comes from things like fine art or beautiful automobiles. Nothing can replace the beauty of mahogany furniture with a great, rich, deep finish

Our Kittinger pieces feel quite at home in historic Williamsburg and they welcome us back every time we walk in that door, harkening us back to a time in American history when people from all walks of life came together to form a great nation. For those of us who love sports analogies, it was one of the greatest upsets of all time. USA vs Great Britain, 1776.

I am very proud to call both Jim and Kim friends - and we are grateful to get the chance to continue to work together to find those great Kittinger pieces that are still out there to be rediscovered ... and brought back home to Williamsburg. It continues to be a lot of fun!

Thanks.
Joe H.