Walnut Ladderback Chairs

Hey antiquers...this board was so helpful when I posted last month, I thought I would seek out your professional advice again!

I have 4 walnut (I believe) ladderback chairs, with rush seating. They are pristine and have been stripped. The look and feel great - very solid. A few things...

1. Can you verify for me that this is in fact walnut? It looks and feels like it to me, but I want to make sure.
2. Should I leave them stripped and let the new owners (whoever buys them) stain/french polish themselves?
   
3. Can anybody give me an approximate age based on the photos? I believe them to be pretty old, but I am not great at dating furniture quite yet.

thanks and here is the link!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1rmt2m4stx40ow3/AACApzhHhn599JmfRMiUua3qa?dl=0

 

These don't look like walnut to me. Not sure what they are. Kind of look like a tropical hardwood but, if old, that is not likely. That said, I don't see a lot of age to these. The fact that they have been stripped may be throwing us off a bit and they could be rather new imports.

 

I responded in the other post. I and many others will not click on random links. Brad is a trouper. If you want us to see your photos, upload them.

 

The fact that there have been over 30 views on each of these 3 furniture threads and only Brad has been able to see and comment should be evidence enough. I remembered having problems with the link in Brent's previous query, so I didn't bother, though I would love to be able to see these.

 

Here you go . I don't know if it matters much what you do with them. Around here you can hardly give them away. Maybe it's different where you are. Around here I think someone would probably want it painted.

 

Thanks, SIS.

 

same set my folks had in their country house for 25 years.....i never liked sitting on them.........

 

Forgot to mention that the way the seat frame is attached is an indication that these are newer.

 

Newer, like less than 20 years old, or mid century? How could I better get an idea what kind of wood this is. This is one of the things I still struggle with is wood identification.

Oh, I was also going to say that the screws are old that attach the seat to the legs (not the metal brackets) - essentially screws that I have seen in 1930-40s pieces. They could have been used as an afterthought though.

 

Like I said above, the wood looks like some kind of tropical hardwood. Often called plantation mahogany but of any number of species. This would probably put them 70s or later if that is what it is. 1970 was, afterall, 45 years ago so they could have a bit of age to them.

 

Hi,
OMG, I thought the 50s was only a few years ago but the 70s was just a couple of years. 45 years ago oh my. I am feeling old and going to crawl back into my cave and feel sorry for myself.
greg

 

I guess I'll mention that we have ladder back chairs that we have used for years and use everyday. We have some in natural oak/ash and some in solid cherry. Ours are plainer but some come with a good name. Some we bought new and some came from an auction. We didn't pay over $40 ea for any of them and we bought them when styles leaned more toward colonial/shaker than they do today. I only say this because it can be a lot of work to refinish a chair so that it looks good and I don't know how much return you can expect for your efforts.

Hopefully these are popular where you are.

I do like ladder back chairs and have a really old one I need to work on in the garage. It's probably 19th C and I paid $5 for it.

 

I also don't think they are all that old, maybe 60's, but as to the wood, not sure. I would NOT finish them......let whoever buys them do so.......IMHO!

 

I thought I would mention, because I posted this on the other posts I made, but sorry for the link. I just store my photos in Dropbox and even though you don't need to login to view them, I can understand the frustration of not seeing the photos. From now on, I will post the pics individually. Thanks say_it_slowly for posting the pics. I took care of it on the other threads.

Thanks also to everyone for the great information!