Featured Old, beat up chair - looks special though

Bought a house with an old beat up "antique-looking" chair. Haven't touched it, not wanting to do more harm than good.

Would like any advise if it is worth anything and how to go about getting it into the right hands at the right price.

See pictures.

 

Here's recent discussions about similar chairs. Key word "curule."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curule_seat

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/unique-leather-and-wood-chair.58712/#post-3639730

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/w...from-country-does-it-hail.61373/#post-3981481

Debora

 

I must say I do like those hairy legs!

 

The curule is backless. Savonarola and some others have backs. Apparently the righteousness and/or egos of the chosen ones held them upright.

 

put it out to the curb and it it will get........"into the right hands at the right price."

 

Unfortunately, not a lot of value in this condition but definitely worth saving. It is an exceptional example of Victorian excess. If it were mine, I would post it on fb marketplace for $100.00 OBO to see if you get any interest. Hard to say.

As an example, I had a very nice Victorian carved mahogany chair frame that I ended up selling for $25.00. I had no interest until I priced it $40.00 at a garage sale and had to wrangle the $25.00 offer out of someone once they seemed intrigued.

 

As much as I enjoyed komokwa's response, I will offer this glimmer of hope to our new friend Scott. A little elbow grease, some new upholstery...

 

a lot of elbow grease...!!!

 

Love it!

 

Think it does a disservice to show 1stDibs pricing here. In no way can 99.9% of the people ever get those kinds of prices. They cater to the highest end clientele for which money is no object. In tip top condition, this would be a $300.00 max chair in most markets. Maybe $500 in a smart shop in a big city. Even $1500.00 to most high-end decorators would be a stretch.

 

Agrees 100%, you notice 1stDibs does NOT show sold prices which is all that really counts. 1stDibs has what I call FANTASY prices or prices that have little bearing on what they are actually sold for.

 

Exactly, I.E. correctly restored you would have more money in this chair than you could reasonably expect to get on a resale. A LOT MORE!

 

Tritto.
1stDibs is absolutely useless in determining worth or pricing.

 

Sorry, posting the chair from 1stDibs was my attempt at humor, which apparently failed. I've posted many times here about their wildly inflated pricing and always suggest people look at Liveauctioneers or Chairish Pink Book for sold pricing. And in that spirit, here are some examples from Liveauctioneers.

 

I love it for insurance claims!

 

No, I got it but wasn't sure if OP did.
Hate to see someone drop a grand or so on a repair job based on a 1stDibs price!

 

True, I shouldn't assume the new members know about 1stDibs. When I first started getting into MCM furniture about 10 years ago I bought an American of Martinsville dresser for $50 and then found a listing for the same one on 1stDibs for $3,000. I contacted the dealer, who was within driving distance, and asked if he wanted to buy mine for $500. I figured $2500 would be a nice little profit for him, but he wasn't interested, didn't even make a lowball offer. That's when I realized their pricing was a sham.

 

Indeed

 

Send your address! Wanty-wanty!

 

I like it. The carvings are great. The back carving may be a "Green Man" (?); or the "North Wind" (?). I've restored many pieces which looked lost at first glance but turned out to be easily restored and well worth the time. Some have been lost causes and I've sold the interesting parts separately for more than I would gotten had fully repaired the item, as decorative pieces. My first choice is to reclaim the piece (if do-able), especially if I intend to keep the piece.