Chair

hi
I have been told this is a Windsor chair , could anyone help confirm this and age please , cheers

 

It is a Windsor style, but English style not American style and all finish stripped off. I don't have much experience with English windsors but doesn't look very old (20th century), though it does have a solid plank seat which is good. You'll need more pics to get more info.

 

Hope this helps cheers

 

Well, as I said I don't have much experience with English Windsors, though I do have a lot of experience with American Windsors. It has features that would make it definitely not period correct for an American chair, but those are not shared with period English chairs, and I think those later pics do make it look likely to be period correct and authentic early 19th century (1820 or so) rather than 20th century which I said before. Final close ups of the base, feet and hand-holds would be useful. Its hard with chairs that have been so thoroughly stripped of finish since a lot of indications of wear are removed in the process, but there should still be signs in closeups.

 

Sorry I’m fairly new to antiques what type of wood would you say it is please cheers

 

Again, I don't run into many English windsors here in Boston. If you live in UK you should check locally. Or maybe someone else here knows. If you look online you'll see ash and elm, so that is a possibility. Also, don't take early 19th as gospel, that is based on similar online and could be later than that. Once a style becomes popular it continues to be made for some time outside urban centers - I suspect same is true in England.

 

hello cassie....what you have is an english 19th century windsor chair in oak and elm(seat) with spindle back and has a crinoline stretcher.with dowelled back and pierced double splat and could date from 1840 onwards. it appears to have been stripped of any original patina....try a good hard wax.....regards ...pewter2

 

Some fool dunked a nice period High Wycombe (probably) made chair from the 19th C in acid. I hate it when that happens. Pure beeswax, then sit on it, stroke it and appreciate it for a decade or so and it will be lovely again.

 

spot on öwned by bear"...shame ..possibly devalued a trifle...lots of hard work to bring patina up to scratch....regards pewter2

 

davey, quite possibe - why do people DO that!

 

Well, windsor chairs, whether english or american were made with several species of wood so were always painted from the get go. Painted furniture forms suffer value wise when their original paint decoration is removed.
Why do people do that?
Because styles change, owners of the furniture change and, this windsor chair decoration changed to! Still, a nice chair even though not 18th century, i like the crinoline stretcher. I agree with others above, wax it and enjoy!

 

They weren't painted here, James.

 

Neat! I didn't know that. In America they were almost always painted in the 18th century, either green or black to mask the different wood species used in their construction.

 

A lot of them here were used outdoors, so the feet are rotted off to some extent. The OP's poor chair looks like someone skinned it, but at least didn't leave it in the garden to rot.

 

Or, you could always paint it again, obviously it got painted at some point along the way. Windsors didn't appear in america until about 1730 or so but they were and still remain a smash hit, i can see why, very comfy chairs.

 

What's the deal on the term "windsor" chair? It's my understanding these chairs were developed in the english countryside (unknown exactly where) early in the 18th century and got their name from the town of Windsor which exported them to London?
That "crinoline" stretcher which is never seen on american chairs was originally called a "spur" stretcher? Curved to allow horseback riders to sit with their spurs on and not get tangled up with a straight front stretcher?