Help Appreciated

Hello - I'm new to the board. My wife's grandmother passed a few years back and we were given some furniture from her estate. I've looked for "makers marks", but can't find anything, so I'm hoping someone here can help us identify these pieces - or at least point us in the right direction.

The first piece is a table. We were told it is a civil war era table that was used as a dining table, operating table and church pew. The top is affixed with dowels on the ends. I don't see any nails. The top can be removed to show a seat underneath. It's around 8 ft long by 3.5 ft wide. Very light stain - pine?


The second piece is a hutch - again no makers mark. About 6.5 ft. tall by 3.5 ft wide and 2 ft. deep. I can see large dovetails and square head nails. The back is slatted boards as opposed to a single piece of wood. Dark stain.


These chairs came with the table. No mark. We have 4 of them. I don't think they are as old as the table. The underside has some interesting craftsmanship.


This rocker looks so so old. The rockers are worn almost flat. You can see where it once had gold leaf all over it and a very intricate design. Very dark looking wood/stain.


Seriously - any help is very very appreciated with these pieces since we've been wondering about their origins for years now.

 

Please don't think I'm goofy when I ask this question but . . . although you say the "rockers are worn almost flat" I would like to know the height of the "seat" from the floor.

 

It's around 13 inches in its current state.

 

I can't tell you anything about the table, hutch and side chair, but that rocker is called a "Boston" rocker with its wide originally decorated top rail, high in the back seat with roll front. The earliest ones date from c1830.

"Around 1825 a Windsor variation called the “Boston” rocker appeared on the scene. By this time the American Windsor had evolved way past its English ancestry to become a purely American form, losing the hoop back and acquiring a rectangular or shaped crest rail. The Boston coupled that with a very comfortable sculpted seat that rose high in the back and rolled off in the front. The chairs were not made only in Boston and there is confusion about why the chairs is called by the city’s name. Many chair makers in New England made variations of the Boston including Lambert Hitchcock. But there is no confusion about the popularity of the chair. Antiques researcher and author Helen Comstock notes in her book “American Furniture,” Schiffer Publishing, “The popularity of the Boston rocker has possibly taken it into more American homes than any other type chair.”

Nowww, I don't know know if yours date from the early 1800s or from the 1940s-1950s with the revival of colonial furniture. For example a Nichols and Stone 1940s Windsor rocker, "Boston" rocker.

Here are a few links with info on Boston rockers.
http://www.antiques.com/classified/...t---Gold-Fruit---Flora-Stenciling-C--1840---s
http://antiqueshoppefl.com/archives/ftaylor/cs148.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_7722876_date-antique-rocking-chair.html
http://www.buffaloah.com/f/fstyles/fed/index.html#Boston

--- Susan

 

Excellent info - any way to date it Susan? The rockers are worn extremely low. And it is definitely worn.

 

BTW, I meant to welcome you to the forums, Welcome!!

--- Susan

 

I think the table is supposed to "convert" without the table top being completely removed.

Like this one: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/84/53/7a/84537af4211797e5845b22f8aea56f62.jpg

I realize you were told a story about its previous life that was no doubt handed down in the family which you would like (as I would) to believe. But I have my doubts it is that old. Just looks way too clean. I would love to be wrong.

 

Thanks Susan!

 

That looks similar, but ours is much larger. The photos are a bit deceptive - it definitely has "petina". I will say though that my wife's relatives were meticulous about keeping things like this in top shape, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's that old. But I Jodi have no idea of how to date it.

 

Theres no real wear on them that I can see, I agree with Bakers , looks too new . Maybe 40s or 50s , but thats just my opinion , I could be way wrong ! Its a lovely set , looks very sturdy . I bet it was expensive new .

 

Perhaps more pictures of the table are in order. How it is put together is important. Can we see the top surface and what it looks like underneath when removed? Are the rectangles that are more darkly colored on the side of the "bench" actually thru tenons ? And of course, the underside of the bench.

 

Johnny - are you referring to the table or the chairs? The chairs are very clean - more pics below.

 

Ask and you shall receive! The rectangles definitely look like they go all the way through, but I'm not expert. It does look like trim nails may have been used on the ends of the top of the table and the trim around the bench. Not sure when that started happening in the furniture world.

 

Is the seat cover what grandma had on it?
Is it what your wife remembers always being on it?
Is it woven?

 

Welcome!

 

Yes - the seat cover is what grandma had on it. Pretty sure the cushion is not original to the piece and was a later addition - but may be wrong. It has a foam piece inside, looks woven, and is hand-sewn.

 

Thanks!

 

Now to be perfectly honest, I'm terrible on dating woods and furniture structure from pictures. I have to have an hands-on feel of an item and an close-up inspection to even venture a guess; however, shape and elements are right for the early 1800, late 1820s to the 1840s. Nowwww many later reproductions did use the same shape, etc... Possibly good pic of the rocker from straight on without looking down on it, good close up pic of bottom, and a good close-up pic of a rocker might help others to date it. Hoping Brad, one if not the best furniture guru on the forum, will show up with his opinion.

As to the other pieces, as I said I haven't any help; however, I tend to agree with the others that they are relatively newer. The table to bench was called a settle, a bench with a high back and arms that were usually movable with the back serving as a table or were fixed.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/2066628_early-1740s-to-1790s-settle-bench-table

I have never seen a settle used as a church pew and believe me I have been in many many churches dating from the 1700s to yesterday. In fact I was baptized in the oldest, still standing, in continuous use church in Connecticut - built in 1751 and still stands today.
http://www.abingtonchurch.org/

Settles were used to save space in homes and the high backs were protection from drafts. The backs were too high for church use for they would block the views of others behind them. If the backs were completely taken off then there would be no back to the pews.

Edit: Meant to add, I believe the benches of original settles had a storage compartment under the bench, raising the lid of the seat. Yours doesn't appear to have any storage capacity in the bench.

--- Susan

 

Thanks for taking those pictures so quickly, Faceplant. Definitely older than the first 2 looked like. These should allow members with more knowledge of 19th century furniture to weigh in, in particular our resident guru VeryBrad.

One thing I do know is that the "ends" on the table top are called "breadboard" ends.

 

I am with the others in thinking that your tilt-top is a newer 20th century reproduction. It still may have 80 years of age but is not Civil War era and the story, as Susan has so excellently speculated, just does not fit. It is pine and may have been made with older salvaged lumber. However, I would expect wider and clearer lumber if this was 19th century.

As you guessed, the chairs are much newer. I would say post-1960s the way that seat is a separate entity and drops in.

Your sideboard/hutch has possibilities for being old. I would like to see drawer construction (dovetails if any and a straight-on shot of the bottom).

Your Boston rocker should have a single board construction across the width of the seat if really old. If made up of multiple boards, it would be very later 19th century at the oldest but more likely well on in to the 20th century.