What is your favourite?

[Starkton]

[quote=Steve post_id=368128 time=1773232392 user_id=192]
Your 15b with pedestal is without question, one of the most awe inspiring, beautiful machines I've ever seen. Congratulations on the fine restoration. The "green" oak does advance the Art Nouveau design and methodology beyond the plainer ebonised version.
[/quote]

Thank you for your nice comment. The look of this case was very well conceived, and I hope to discover who designed it someday.

Oak is very hard and therefore more difficult to work with. In German "Jugendstil", this type of wood was used to create solid, “honest,” modern furniture with geometric, flat, and rather austere forms. The case of the “Monarch de Luxe No. 15b” is therefore not as fluid, decorative, and asymmetrical as one would expect from a contemporary French "Art Nouveau" or Spanish "Modernismo" design.

The olive-green stain, which accentuated the beautiful wood grain, was indeed a perfect fit for the Art Nouveau concept, which was heavily inspired by nature.

In the English “Modern Style,” particularly in the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Scottish Art Nouveau), black was deliberately incorporated into furniture design. This likely influenced the color of the "Melba" cases made in Germany for the English market. However, the finish was intended to conceal the wood grain. For this reason (presumably) fruitwood, instead of oak, was used for the case.