Windsor chairs

Hello folks.
I have just inherited some furniture from my grandparents. I am trying to identify how old some of it may be.

I have these six Windsor chairs. 5 are side chairs and one arm chair.

I tried doing some research online, but to my untrained eye, there seems to be so many variances.
Thanks for your time,

 

Hi @Ringwood

You should definitely include images of the seat and foot bottoms

I love this grooved detail... Someone here will be able to help you figure out the age/origin. They are pretty

 

Thanks for the tip. I don't know how I missed it, but looking on the bottom I found a stamp on the arm chair, and some numbers stenciled on the side chairs.

The embossed stamp on the arm chair reads P. Derby with a logo of a chair in the middle. The stenciled print on the side chairs is the number 37-6506.
Thanks again

 

This is a Brad question! However, I think older rather than newish, but not terribly so. (40's? I love to see how close I get to Brad's estimation!)

 

BTW, that is a very nice inheritance. Windsor chairs can be used with almost anything, and will go almost anywhere with grace and dignity.

 

I'm assuming these all have the same markings, so are a matched set? Unless there is a older one snuck in, these are from the 20th century factory made, so not 18th/19th century period originals. I don't know the company, but you should be able to google it to find out more about what they made and when.

 

Looks like P Derby company of Gardner Mass was started in the late 1800's and continued through about mid-20th century (not sure when they were sold/disbursed). Apparently they were the makers of one of the huge chairs that were (and maybe still are?) a roadside attraction in the town of Gardner: https://www.ebay.com/itm/POSTCARD-G...802443?hash=item567a39e6cb:g:9UwAAOSw3ydVz-tp

 

Thanks for the info. Only the armchair has that embossed stamp. I'm not sure if it is part of the side chair set. The side chairs are all the same.

I am from the Boston area, and remember seeing that giant chair when I was younger.
It appears it is still in Gardner Massachusetts at a local park.
I don't think that is still the original chair. It probably has been rebuilt and moved a few times through the years. I remember seeing it from the highway.

 

Thanks for the photos, @Ringwood

I think @verybrad has enough to go on...

We like to see the feet, too - especially on older "looking" furniture - because reproduction mills have developed very advanced techniques to make things look as old as possible.

For example, if a chair was used in an older kitchen, it may have lost finish on the legs from being in a room that was regularly mopped.

Giant chairs rock.

 

The bottom of the legs appear to be just worn unfinished wood. The finish on the legs themselves just appear a little more dinged up as you get closer to the floor.

 

Giant chairs rock.

 

Both the side chairs and arm chair are modern 20th century reproductions. The arm chair is of better quality than the side chairs, though those double bowed spindles are a bit different. I do think these have some age to them and are not the modern imports we so often see. Really hard to tell age, as these were made forever. Likely post-WWII since that was when interest in Colonial style furnishings really took off.

 

Whew!