Posted 11 years ago
vabria
(1 item)
Hello I am new to this website and I need information on two beautifully unique butterfly chairs. The frame of the chair appears and sounds to be made of steel with antique embroidery on the seat of the chair. I was told that this could be an antique chair made around 100 yrs ago. I purchased both chairs at a local consignment shop in Ocala, Fla. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Edit: The wood doesn't look refined nor processed. But it does have staples, and it looks like its been painted over. Also I have two of these chairs.
Can you photo under chair also ? It on first look ,looks like a reproduction but I can't get in close enough to see material it was made of and underside would be a clue . They are wonderful chairs I love them.
Thanks they appear to have had seats recovered but the wood is plywood to my eye . So I am going to say not antique ,hope someone else jumps in with opinion too ! They are still beautiful chairs !!
I agree with manikin that without being able to see the chairs in person it is difficult to determine age, materials used, type of construction etc. I disagree with classifying them as not antique because of the plywood. Plywood and veneer dates back to Egyptian times and has been used in various countries across the world in furniture making since. It is believed that it was used fairly frequently from the 17th century on by English and French furniture and cabinets builders. Modern plywood was first patented in 1865 but did not become mass produced until 1907. An antique (depending on the definition used) is anywhere from 50-100 years old or older. I have commonly heard over 80 years for the purpose of collecting. You can not determine, based on the use of plywood, whether or not they are antique. Even if the plywood is original it does not rule out the possibility of them being antique according to the above definition. Furthermore the plywood may have been added at a later date as part of a repair, possibly when the seats were recovered. What you need to look for is signs of tooling and saw marks in the wood, any piece that appears to have tooling marks made by a machine would have to be post industrial revolution. Another clue that may help is whether the back was carved out of one solid piece of wood or whether it was carved from several piece edge joined together. Unfortunately to determine if a piece is genuine or reproduction you really need to compare it to another of the same piece or at least know the furniture builder. I did some limited research and can not find another example of these chairs or one even similar. I would recommend bringing them to an antique appraiser or to the local antique shop as they may be able to give you better answer seeing the chairs in person. Hopes this helps
I won't write a novel regarding the material but I will comment. Look at chairs designed 100 years ago and compare it to what you have. Look at the joinery because we can't see it in the pictures. Ask yourself what era this chair fits. Disregard what someone said, look at what you have right there in front of you.
Good advice fhrjr2, I, unfortunately, missed that the frames we're steel. Although I agree with your advice, unfortunately many pieces are made to look old when there not so you must be able to identify the small clues that will tell you a pieces age. As far as my "novel" I have heard time and time again that the presence of plywood means a piece is not old, just a little information to try to help.
Medic - Pay no attention to my novel comment, I thought it was a novel comment. My warped sense of humus at work (yes I intended to say sense of humus). There is no such thing as too much information. Even if only one or two sentences provide a lead then everything was worth the effort. I tend to be off the wall and sometimes provoke people with a different point of view. Other times I am serious and provoke them anyway.
New or old, they're an attractive, unusual pair of chairs. Very nice vabria.