Bay Colony Antiques is proud to offer for sale this fantastic late 18th / early 19th century antique Cannonball rope bed. The bed has a wonderful Cherry headboard with a beautiful sapwood grain. Sapwood is notoriously hard to work with because it contains a high moisture content and is prone to warping while drying. The bed has two separate sapwood streaks, one at the top of the headboard, and a small swirl at the bottom right. The posts have cannonball tops with carved collars below & multiple tight ringlet turnings. The legs and blanket rail are also heavily turned and superbly executed. The bed originally accepted a rope foundation and was lengthened probably sometime in the early 20th century. Most beds were only lengthened because all you need to do is have longer rails made. The interior between the rails measurements are 47” wide x 75 3/4” long. If you wanted to use a rabbet edge box spring the measurements are 53” wide 75 3/4” long. A rabbet edge box spring is shaped like an uppercase T with the flared ends sitting flush on the rail with the body of the box spring between the rails. The previous owners used a thick piece of plywood as a bunkie board to allocate more space for the mattress. The overall dimensions of the bed are 53 1/8” wide x 83 1/4” deep x 52” tall.
