Old chair

Hello all, I have this chair from my great grandmother and would like to get some more information about it. I assume it's Victorian style judging by searching online, I cannot find any markings on it. I would love to know who manufactured it and when. My great grandmother lived from 1900-1982 and we're located about 45 minutes away from Winston Salem NC where a lot of furniture was made. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks

 

Yes, Victorian Rococo Revival/Renaissance Revival chair ca. 1860-70. Walnut. A "balloon back" armchair that probably belonged to a parlor set featuring a sofa and/or settee, several armchairs, and several (armless) sidechairs. You've got nice old (but not original) upholstery that your great grandmother may have contributed to. In any case, the chair was decades old on the day your great grandmother was born. In the absence of a tag or old handwriting, it will be virtually impossible to say who made the chair; it may very well have been a cabinet maker in North Carolina as you noted.

Very nice chair but not distinguished as far as being a product of a "name" maker goes, and not worth a lot because of the ongoing brown furniture depression, although hopefully that will end in the next 10 years. Maybe $50-$100 at auction on a sunny day here in the U.S. Midwest.

 

Wow, thanks for that information! That's a little older than I thought but assumed it was older than 1900. What about it makes you believe it's not original upholstery? It was this way through my life obviously, the same through my mother's so I assumed it was always upholstered this way. I'll have to double check but I believe I have a photo it from the 1930s. Thanks so much!!

 

Re: Upholstery...Condition for one thing, it's extremely clean and bright. Pattern for another, 1860s-80s chairs tended to be upholstered in silk, damask, sometimes a small, repeating pattern. Needlepoint and the like became much more common after 1900.

But remember, without documentation we're dealing with what is likely, not what is certain.

 

That makes sense, figured it had to be the pattern because all the others I found appeared to be silk or some plain fabric. My great grandmother did needle point but not to this extinct, someone obviously knew what they were doing. They were well to do so they likely had it professionally done I'd imagine.

It does have a stain that I would love to remove but I'm scared to mess with it, any ideas on how it could be cleaned? Thanks so much for your help!

 

When it comes to delicate, old fabrics such as this I tend to go with dry cleaners. You only get one chance, and if I made it worse my eye would go to it every time I looked at the chair.

 

I don't see any handwork in the upholstery. It appears to be machine-made upholstery fabric and not terribly old. Let's see what others think.

Debora

 

I know I would hate to have to do that by hand! Here in Burlington NC textile was a major deal so there would have been many options I would think. Thanks!

 

There wasn't much of a furniture industry in NC when this was made. Chicago was the furniture capitol of the US at that time, though much was also made further East. Some furniture manufacturing began in NC in the 1880s but not on the scale seen further North. By the turn of the century, manufacturing began to shift from the traditional centers to Grand Rapids MI. Only in the post WWII years did NC become the center of the US furniture industry.

 

High Point's furniture industry began in the late 1880s and the first market was held in 1909.

 

It doesn't matter where this chair was made. It's just not worth enough to think about. Could have been here, could have been there, unless there's a tag or stamp nobody will ever know.

It's a nice chair that IMO needs new upholstery.

 

Who said it mattered where it was made? As for value, I didn't ask anything about value but you've brought it up twice. I do not care what it's worth and simply wanted to know a bit more about the chair, I certainly know more about it after posting it here so that's a great thing!