why does a brass door knob 1920s look so different than one from the 1980s?
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Production of brass was one of the things that became standardized after World War I, so from a metallurgical standpoint it’s actually going to be more similar from 2020 to 1920 then if it was pre-1910. Before World War I there were over 100 different varieties of brass formulas. After the war, there were less than 20 different types of brass.
Survival rate is not the best indicator of what was prevalent, but if you’re going by survival rates, brass wasn’t even the most common material used for door knobs in that time period. Glass cast-iron, ceramic and wood all seem to be much more common materials than brass for door handles, but some of that may have to do with the fact that brass can be melted down, so it may have been recycled at a higher rate than other door knob materials.
I would argue that rather than metallurgy, the biggest difference between contemporary brass door knobs and historical ones would be that in the 1920s casting was the most popular way to use brass for commercial applications. If you made a brass door knob today it would be far more likely to be made of stamped metal rather than cast.
The 1920s was a transitional period between art nouveau and art deco. So for most of this period you are going to see art nouveau as the dominant aesthetic. Art nouveau tends to be highly ornamental, asymmetrical, and full of gayety. Art deco started to emerge more in the late 20’s. It’s more formal, geometric, and uses simple bold shapes and designs for a much more “modern” feeling.
The 2020’s feel a lot like the late 1800’s. The Victorian era was full of revivals styles where the Victorian’s look to the designs of the past and re-interpreted them in their own way. you will find contemporary re-interpretations of art, nouveau, and art deco, but most of them will be very much products of their own time when you look at the details, which was also true of the Victorian reinterpretations of historical styles.
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