Lucy uses a brass clad fireplace bellows in a scene from “The Gossip”. I don’t have a maker name for this yet but I found one with the same brass relief design on eBay UK this week – unfortunately the leather bellows on this one is damaged . Click Here for the listing
Peter shares another great find with us (Thanks Pete!), this time it’s the matching brass plate that goes with the brass pitchers we looked at previously:
Peter writes: “The Peerage company also made the brass plates that can be seen in the Ricardo’s home when they move to the country. Two smaller ones (probably around 10″-12”) are found behind the door to the den, as seen in episode “Lucy Raises Chickens” when she and Ethel put the 500 chicks in there to keep warm. But most noticeable is the larger one that sits on top of the fireplace mantel. Close ups can be grabbed when she’s cleaning in thr early part of “Building A BBQ”. I was able to find the exact pattern and like the pitchers (which they placed on the mantel as well) are pretty inexpensive. Here’s a link to one currently for sale: Vintage Brass Wall Hanging Plate – Pub Scene – Made in England. They mounted it to a wood circle. I can’t seem to find any that include the wood plaque so I think the prop masters made them specifically for the plates. I might try and do it myself if I can find a wood circle that measures around 18″
As Peter mentions above the brass plates were mounted on a wood backing for use on set – this may have been a practical solution to prevent noise from the brass rattling on set as the actors moved about – so if you want a similar look you may have to DIY or get a carpenter to make the backing boards.
A set of English brass pitchers are seen on the kitchen shelf on the I Love Lucy set. I was able to grab a screen capture showing enough detail to identify the patterns seen above. the larger pitcher about 8″ tall shows a seated man in a pub scene, and the smaller jug at 6 3/4″ tall has a nautical theme with a ship and lighthouse. There were two of the smaller jugs and one large jug on the kitchen shelf. See examples I found pictured below. They are made by Peerage Brass and are easily found on the secondary market often at low prices. Lucy’s pitchers are seen on the show from early in the series and later in the Newport house they are on the mantel along with matching plates.
CLick Here to Find Peerage brass pitchers like this on eBay
For the Juice decanter and glasses set also seen in the screen photo above see my earlier post here.