SKELETON-BOOT VICTORIA
Body painted dark olive green, green gear. Trimmed in dark green.
The handsome victoria was well suited for the formal call and the promenade on wheels. In 1877, Mrs. E. B. Duffey, in her Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Etiquette book warned her readers that “morning calls should not be made earlier than twelve noon, nor later than 5 P.M. and the lady should be more richly dressed when calling on her friends than for an ordinary walk.” A lady should “never lay aside her bonnet during a formal call even though urged to do so.”
The rules were just as rigorous where her carriage was concerned. Her coachman, stately in bearing, should be taller and more portly than the footman, but he too should be of more than average height, thoroughly well trained and preferably slim.
This victoria was built by Brewster and Company of New York in 1904.
Gift of the Webb family in memory of Dr. and Mrs. W. Seward Webb
Photos above and below were taken in the courtyard of the coach barn at Shelburne Farms about 1905 and show the victoria turned out, ready for a formal call.
Fine carriages were never neglected. Each vehicle was thoroughly washed off as soon as it came in the coach barn; grit was carefully removed from hinges and joints; only the finest chamois were used to wipe dry the painted panels. Linseed oil was applied to the folding leather tops, and all metal parts on lamps and moldings were kept brightly polished. This was routine care in well-regulated stables.
