This is a superb little pale blue stove comes from the
middle part of the Art Deco movement about 1925-1935 but
done in an Art Nouveau style. You don’t need to have a
huge drawing room to get the benefit from this refined
stove. The casting designs on the front of the stove are
exquisite.
Please note that this is the 'Modèle
B' version which has a lift up lid and it does come with
the optional hook on ash pan.
This particular le non pareil benefits from a
complete nut & bolt restoration, having a new firebox
made from modern steel twice as thick, so this stove
should last at least twice as long. The flue baffle,
the flue spigot and the firebrick has also been
renewed. I have also replaced the mica in the viewing
window and the door. The chrome work on the door has
been re-nickelled.
It was made by the well known manufacturer Deville &
Cie of Charleville in the Ardennes between 1925 and 1939,
and can be found in their 1930 catalogue. This is medium
sized stove, described as a 'pôele à bois' visible et
continue' by the manufacturers was revealed at the 1925
Paris exhibition which put France at the forefront of
industrial design and caused a fever of creative activity
throughout the world. They named this beautiful stove 'no
equal' and it was developed to produce rapid heating
for Parisians returning to their homes at the end of the
their working day. Its not difficult to imagine how style
conscious the decor in their homes would have been during
this period.
This beautifully coloured stove stove is
in excellent condition, and really benefits from the
quality of casting and enamelling associated with Deville.
This stove epitomises the best in Art Nouveau style and
design.
It has been a working stove, and as such has one or two
small chips to the enamel, but you have to search for
them. It is more or less 70-80 years old and their
condition is consistent with the usual wear which is to be
expected of any piece like this stove that is of a certain
age, and that has been used to give heat and warmth to its
previous owners. All working parts are in excellent
condition, just connect the flue, light the match and away
you go!
Le non pareil was designed for all types of wood, however
I would recommend using hardwoods. You can also use
briquettes and the larger wood pellets.
This is a beautiful, unusual stove and these photos
do not really do it justice. If you look carefully
at the film Chocolat, you can see a honey brown "le non
pareil" in Grandma's (Judi Dench.) parlour!
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