It isn’t easy to find an Edwardian drinks cabinet, so this one, labeled with the name of a well-known English company, Mappin & Webb, brought $7,380 at Neal Auction Co. in New Orleans. Inside the top section were an ice bucket, cocktail shaker, decanters, glasses and other utensils. Bottles were behind the lower cabinet doors.

Drinks before or after dinner have been part of the ritual of dining in America since the 1800s. By then, the wealthy lived in houses that had a dining room, living room and perhaps a parlor or library.

Men and women enjoyed “4 o’clock tea” during Victorian times, but it was usually a ladies’ get-together. After a dinner party, however, it was customary for the men to go to the library for brandy and cigars.

In the 1700s, alcoholic drinks were served to everyone. It was the safest thing to drink; clean water was not always available.

In the years since, there have been times when drinking was an important part of social events and times when it was illegal.

Through all of these years, furniture, decanters, glasses and other things were made to use when serving drinks.

Some dining-room sideboards in the early 1800s had a closed section deep enough to hold a bottle of wine or brandy to serve at dinner. In Victorian times, bottles and glasses often were kept on a tabletop or inside a closed cabinet.

Closed cabinets with hidden sections for bottles and glasses were popular after 1900. They often were made in a formal style from an earlier period. The end of Prohibition in 1933 brought whiskey out of hiding and back onto the table.

By the 1950s, drinks often were served from a built-in bar in the recreation room. [Source]

Ms. Moore is a found object artist (definition according to wikipedia: “art created from the undisguised, but often modified, use of objects that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function.”) whose interest in and fascination for the Edwardian period dissects with mine. Her interest in Lady Monson (nee Romaine Stone) stemmed from an article in The American Almanac Year-Book Cyclopaedia and Atlas, which listed pages of American heiresses married to European noblemen.

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From the Biltmore Estate:

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A rare 1913 Stevens-Duryea Model “C-Six” seven-passenger touring car will be placed on display for the first time beginning May 20 at Antler Hill Village on the Biltmore Estate. The car is one of 10 motor vehicles on the estate that was registered in North Carolina in June 1916, and the only one purchased by George Vanderbilt that remains in The Biltmore Company’s collection. This particular model is believed to be one of only 10 known existing in the world today.

Conservation work will take place over the next several months, and then the car will be on exhibit in a closed, climate-controlled space just outside Biltmore Winery in the new Antler Hill Village Like many objects in historic collections, guests will not be able to touch the vehicle, but they will be able to see it up close and get a sense of the Vanderbilts as a family who enjoyed one of the most exciting new inventions of the 20th century – the automobile.

While Biltmore conservators enjoy the daily work of caring for objects, furniture and art in the Biltmore House collection, using their skills to conserve an automobile is especially interesting. The team will begin work on the vehicle’s interior and exterior this month, using a wide variety of techniques to prepare the car for its debut to Biltmore guests. The undercarriage and mechanical components of the car will be conserved by B.R. Howard & Associates, a team that specializes in historic transportation objects based in Carlisle, Pa.

About the company and the car:

In 1901 J. Frank Duryea, after breaking up with his brother Charles E., built the Hampden automobile which proved to be a pilot model for the first Stevens-Duryea automobile, built as part of the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Company in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. This five-passenger car has Westinghouse air shock absorbers, and a spring-loaded front bumper, and when introduced was the only car with a one-piece windshield.

Specifications: Model C-six; engine six-cylinder in-line, water-cooled; bore 4 9/16 in., stroke 5-1/2 in., displacement 495 cu. in., 48 hp. Price new $4,500.

Further Reading:
A restored 1913 Stevens-Duryea
A look at Biltmore