This is a superb little rose pink stove comes from the middle part of the Art
Deco movement about 1925-1935 but done in an Art Nouveau style. You don’t need
to have a huge drawing room to get the benefit from this refined stove. The
casting designs on the front of the stove are exquisite.
Please note that this
is the 'Modèle B' version which has a lift up lid and it does come
with the optional hook on ash pan.
This particular le non pareil benefits from
a complete nut & bolt restoration, having a new firebox made from modern steel
twice as thick, so this stove should last at least twice as long. The flue
baffle, the flue spigot and the firebrick has also been renewed. I have also
replaced the mica in the viewing window and the door. The chrome work on the
door has been re-nickelled.
It was made by the well known manufacturer Deville & Cie of Charleville
in the Ardennes between 1925 and 1939, and can be found in their 1930 catalogue.
This is medium sized stove, described as a 'pôele à bois' visible et continue'
by the manufacturers was revealed at the 1925 Paris exhibition which put France
at the forefront of industrial design and caused a fever of creative activity
throughout the world. They named this beautiful stove 'no equal' and it was
developed to produce rapid heating for Parisians returning to their homes at the
end of the their working day. Its not difficult to imagine how style conscious
the decor in their homes would have been during this period.
This beautifully
coloured stove stove is in excellent condition, and really benefits from the
quality of casting and enamelling associated with Deville. This stove epitomises
the best in Art Nouveau style and design.
It has been a working stove, and as
such has one or two small chips to the enamel, but you have to search for them.
It is more or less 70-80 years old and their condition is consistent with the
usual wear which is to be expected of any piece like this stove that is of a
certain age, and that has been used to give heat and warmth to its previous
owners. All working parts are in excellent condition, just connect the flue,
light the match and away you go!
Le non pareil was designed for all types of
wood, however I would recommend using hardwoods. You can also use
briquettes and the larger wood pellets.
This is a beautiful, unusual
stove and these photos do not really do it justice. If you look carefully at
the film Chocolat, you can see a honey brown "le non pareil" in Grandma's (Judi
Dench.) parlour!
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