Featured A Tale of Two Chippendale Chairs (with a hero)

Cats make me nervous around furniture like this, it can't be replaced, just sayin.....

 

Hey. Who is that in your lap?

 

My 1st grandson Chris, who is graduating HS this year, geez, where does the time go?
Notice the lime green walls in background, my son's wife decorating notions

 

Good looking child.

 

...who teethed on teethers and not table legs?

 

probably "Binky's"

 

Hi,
When I was growing up it was the window ledges that got chewed on. Since that was before 1970 lead was a problem to the faint of heart.
greg

 

See what you started! I've discussed your concerns with my cats and they say "Tell James, we promise not to harm the chair in any way, but we love it so and want to sit on it all the time."

 

My grandparents (on my mother's side) exiled one of their cats to the great outdoors after it broke my grandmother's favorite lamp. My bratty cousins broke stuff too on several occasions and didn't get banished. My grandmother always had a house full of breakable knickknacks and was always trying to find room for more.

 

Sad. So sad.

 

Too bad she didn't toss the kids out with the cat. The cat needed someone to play with anyway. My grandmother tried tossing one of my cats outside, since cats didn't belong in the house. Cat was back in before she could get the door shut. The cat belonged indoors. My current cat runs away from an opening door; she was found outside in a cat colony and has no interest in EVER going out into the cold, cruel world ever again.

As for the knicknacks, lock 'em up, Dan'o.

 

DEPORTS! @evelyb30 & her misbehaving cats out of the house!

 

I think there is a very real chance your armchair was actually made by Charles Belt of Anne Arundel County, Maryland around 1775. I actually appraised your chair for the Sheppard Estate. Please take a look at this Pinterest entry: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/570127634084289457/. I'd be happy to discuss the minutia of structural characteristics, secondary woods, and design that lead me to believe this.

 

Tim, That's pretty astonishing that you are familiar with the history of these chairs. I would love to know more about what you know, but @James Conrad is the knowledgeable one, not me. I'm sure he will be thrilled to discuss your insights, and I will look on admiringly.
I can see why you think this looks to like one of the set you appraised for the Sheppard Estate. It's fascinating that you can trace them back to the maker. Thank you. Kiko

 

Please elaborate ? Come on Jacon4 !

 

Well, I have never seen the Kiko chair personally or the Tim Naylor chair either so as much as I'd like to discuss construction details ( my fav subject) it's going to be tough for me to talk about them on these chairs!
What did Joe Kindig say, anything about the history of this chair?
My role was to assist in getting a genuine period chair that you didn't have to give up your firstborn to obtain.

 

Compared photographs, they are similar but impossible to evaluate if made by the same maker, pics are limited that way. Plus, I have no clue who Charles Belt of Anne Arundel County is either so there is that!

 

Here is what Joe said:
"Well I got your email and don't feel I can add any more to it. I bought the chair from Alice Lewis in Easton along with a number of pieces including the pair of Baltimore eagle inlaid dining tables that I sold to Bill Frieling. The chair belonged to Mrs. Lewis and came down in the Vaux family of Philadelphia. It was not part of Reg's collection but there are pieces in the Blue book that belonged to her family although she had no interest in antiques. I felt there was nothing wrong with the chair but I haven't looked at it in 45 years. I had it about ten years when Dan bought it. You know what a beating we have taken over the past eight years. Last year the almost mint Philadelphia Queen Anne Walnut chest on chest in New York sold for $16,000 that they paid $110,000 for. I don't know what to say."
Here is the provenance from Pook & Pook
A Pennsylvania Chippendale walnut armchair, ca. 1770, with a shell carved crest, pierced splat and shell carved legs, terminating in ball and claw feet. Provenance: Alice Vaux Lewis, Easton, Maryland; Joe Kindig Jr. & Son 1985; The Collection of Daniel Heisler and Mary Jane Sheppard, Lutherville, MD.

 

Does @Tim Naylor own the chair attributed to Belt, perhaps start a new thread? with new photos as this thread has wandered all over the place, which is usual.