Posted 7 years ago
Antiquitier
(1 item)
I've got 4 of these very old chairs. They are smaller than modern chairs, and are roughly finished. They've been in the family for about 40 years and when they were purchased an antique dealer friend said they were very old and valuable. Just curious about their age and where they might have come from - US, England??
4 very old chairs? Old relative to what? To me anything older than me is old. Old and valuable is relative to how you happen to perceive it. The chair, in my opinion, is an older chair but perhaps close to my age. When I look at the chair the first thing I look at is the seat. Is it a slab seat? How thick? Is it saddled or contoured? Then was the underside finished in terms of trimming stubs? Then the stretchers and how many? I would agree this may be old in my perspective, as for valuable? It is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Thank you for your comments. The dealer who said they were very old was about 80 years old at the time which was about 40 years ago, so I think they are at least older than he was. The seats are slab and about 2 inches thick. The under side looks like it was cut with a rough saw. The seats are slightly contoured. I don't know what a trimming stub is, so can't say whether they are there or not. Maybe they are just farm furniture.
Antiquitier if you look at picture #3 under the rear of the seat (bottom) you can see a stub sticking down through the seat. That would be trimmed off flush with the bottom of the seat so it didn't show if it was made today. It is a minor detail that is given more attention to finishing off in more modern furniture. It doesn't detract from the chair but in considering is it old? Just a detail that sticks out.