Impressive Boch Freres antique ceramic, early 20th century - 8.9m2

An impressive antique Boch Freres Maubeuge antique ceramic totalling 8.9m2 / 96 sq ft and we include in the gallery a photograph of the floor installed in its original hallway, pre-lifting and restoration.

The tiles are 17cm square, 17mm thick and weigh 1.2 kilos each.  

Handmade in small batches the main field tiles offer a classical geometric tessellation framed by a helix themed border tile and we include in the photo gallery a presentation of the tiles from the original period Boch Freres catalogue in our possession.

The floor has cleaned well revealing a quality ceramic; there are edge nibbles, small chips on some tiles and occasional surface capillary cracks. These formed when the tiles left the kiln and were cooling and all groutable and adding to the charm of the patina. The 1m2+ section shown in the gallery is of a randomly selected section of the floor and representative of the whole.

Being a highly fired tile they can be laid inside or outside of the home.

This is a rare floor from a quality, heritage internationally respected manufacturer.

Tile quantities, give or take one or two:-

FIELD - 225 tiles - 6.5m2 / 70 sq. ft.

BORDER - 83* tiles - 2.4m2 / 25.8 sq. ft. - 14.1 linear metres/ 46.3 linear ft.

* 67 regular helix borders, 16 with the blue lozenge.

NOTE
Antique tiles were most commonly made in single or two tile moulds. Before current computer automation methods their moulds were made my hand and the colour slips mixed by eye. Kiln temperatures could also be variable, as could the firing time. The result is that often tiles display subtle size and thickness variations and there can be tonal variations in colours, owing to the slip mixing and/or firing time. All of this makes these handmade tiles unique and adds to their charm. Some floors display their subtle variations in size and tones, some not, but when photographing we always take a random section of the floor so that it is representative of the whole. A tiler should always dry lay a section of the tiles to familiarise himself with them before starting to fix lay.