Help ID an old wooden reclining chair

Hey everyone, I am new here and fairly new to the antiques world. I have always owned antiques, but always bought them at shops. I have worked with wood and furniture, but it has not been pre-1900 furniture. usually mid-century. Well, my wife and I have taken the plunge and have a small store front with other vendors, as well selling through the internet (craigslist, ebay, and other antique sites).

I acquired an old reclining Houndstooth wooden chair. It was in bad shape and I have been working on restoring it. I still have a little bit to go, but I have no idea the age of this piece. I also don't know if there are other ones out there like this one. It is in great overall shape. I'm guessing it is somewhere between 1870-1920. I could be wrong, but would love any input you might have on this.

I had a lot of pictures that were over 1 MB, so here is a dropbox folder that has pictures of the chair.

Any help would be great! There are no markings on this chair, which makes it hard. Thanks so much for the help...

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h543ockxch8hce2/AAD9ZTMjnEyJJHJ63Qdi74-La?dl=0

 

Hola, and welcome to the Forums.
How exciting!!! And you have found exactly the right place for support and consultation, I promise you!
I'm sure the furniture brainiacs will be along soon...

 

Thanks!

Would love to know what wood this is. Still learning how to identify wood...

 

I think this is an early 20th century invalid chair. Here is reference to a similar older one......

http://www.antiquetrader.com/featured/invalid-barber-chairs-share-common-history

 

Wood is pretty nondescript. If I had to guess, I would say birch with a red stain in it to mimic mahogany (assuming American made), though it looks like much of the stain has been stripped out of it.

 

Welcome! That is COOL!

 

Thanks verybrad! That article was interesting. I have seen some people list this type of chair as a reclining lounger. I wonder if they all were originally invalid chairs and then others found different practical uses for them. I will say one thing about the recline option, it would be very hard for someone that might not be fully abled t get out. The recline does not lock in place, so when you get up and push off the armrests, the chair tries to go into a recline position.

The article also mentioned barber chairs. I wonder if this could have been used in that capacity as well - maybe in a women's salon.

I'm trying to figure out a retail price for this too. Based on what I have seen - they go for anywhere from $500 to about $1800.

 

Even that lower price seems overly ambitious for my Midwest market. It really does depend on market and timing though. The chair I provided the link to sold twice in New Orleans. Once for $200.00 at one auction house and earlier for $900.00 at another. I am not sure if it is the exact same chair or not.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/8464083_edwardian-mahogany-invalids-chair

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/14334974_edwardian-mahogany-invalids-chair-ca-1900-the-b

I see it as a more desirable example than yours.

I don't see yours as a barber chair. The styling of it suggests 20th century. By that time, barber chairs had evolved in to a much different form.

 

that makes sense. I think some that I have seen on Etsy are people that are charging more for their items in general. I think with the houndstooth I could possibly gain appeal from an Alabama fan. I live in the south, so it could be possible they'd want it more.

Thanks for the info. Too bad I can't find another example of this one somewhere.

 

Porch recliner chair down there?

 

Hmmm, because "the South" has been mentioned I wonder if it could have started out as a "convalescent chair" (or as Verybrad said an "invalid" chair) at a southern "sanatorium" (of which there were many in the past, especially in the southern mountains where one partook of either the "air" or the "waters" or both in order to feel better).

 

1870 would be too early.
I would think 1890 t0 1920s.

The houndstooth material looks like 1970s wool. I suspect the original chair was either caned or upholstered in leather.

The bracket that allows the chair to recline is that metal?

Forgot to say,
It looks like a deck chair to me.

 

It's made somewhat like an old Morris chair, if a little prettier. I suspect leather was the original covering; they generally were.

 

Really valuable information! Thanks everyone!

There is very little metal on this chair. The reclining ability is purely done by leaning back. The metal brackets that I think you might be referring to are the three metal brackets on the bottom of the seat. they are holding the springs in place. The other metal brackets are found in the foot rest. You can adjust the foot rest up and down by sliding the footrest into the slotted brackets. Then apart from the screws, everything else is wood and fabric.

 

I was asking about the slotted brackets that allow the chair to recline at different positions.

 

Those slotted brackets are not for reclining...it raises/lowers (height-wise) the foot rest. If the picture you are referring to is IMG_2273, the chair is actually on it's back in that picture, that way I could get a good picture of the slotted bracket. The reclining is fluid...almost like a glider-rocker, but different. Sorry, if that sounds confusing. The one picture I have that shows the chair in full recline does not sit there on its own. i had to use a small prop to hold the seat of the chair open...otherwise it goes back to the standard 90 degree position.

Does this make sense? Sorry if it is confusing.

 

Yes, that made sense.
I misinterpreted the pictures. I thought the bracket was the way the chair reclined, much like a Morris chair.
Thanks for the explanation.