Please Help w/Age, Origin and Possible Maker of this Rocker.

Purchased at a town sale for $3.

The cracked leather seat has a fleur-de-lis decoration at center. The numbers '1221' are impressed and written in white chalk on the bottom. The chair is also a bit smaller than one would expect for a "normal" chair.

Can you all help?

Thank you!

 

I know little about furniture but it looks as if someone has found a 1920s dining chair, with a worn out cane seat, slapped a leather patch over it, and mounted it on rockers.

The machine carved top rail is completely at odds with country rocker look,

 

It started life as a cane seat rocker. Someone slapped the leather on it when the caning gave out. Women were shorter back when, and this was a fairly standard size. This would have been in a baby's room.

 

Thank you both for your thoughts on this item.

So the leather isn't original, but do you think this item was originally a rocker or reconstructed as one? Any thoughts on the style? Federal, empire, etc...

 

Where is Brad? I think (I'll try to go look) it is vaguely Hepplewhite with a little Adam flourish to the top. Poor thing is depressing in its present state. Rip off both seats and have a carpenter find a nice slab instead. Paint it white and give it to the nearest nursing mother. And if you can paint prettily, immortalize baby's name and date of birth up tyhere under the medallion thingle. Little Mama will love you!

 

Thank you!

Not a bad idea at all, Silver.

I like the look of the piece below, pretty nice!

 

Chalk paint. One-third cup each of Plaster of Paris and water, stirred into a cup of whatever paint you've got on hand (satin, flat, gloss, house, doesn't matter). Beautiful finish, incredibly durable and forgiving, and no prep sanding.

 

Hi,
We always called them nursing rockers. I agree lose the leather and cane. Nice flat board with thin cushion to be comfortable.
greg

 

I don't think you need me at all. You are all, for the most part, right on. I do think this was originally a cane seat sewing or nursing rocker, circa 1920.

 

Brad -- you are needed! Always! I have, and I'm sure others have, learned much from your expertise.

BTW, did you see the Philadelphia highboy on the AR? I had a friend who owned one. Once in a while when I visited her, she would watch me caress it -- and chuckle at me.

 

Noted! I'd rather catch rattlesnakes than sand things down.

 

This would be a sewing rocker.
Nursing mothers would have wanted arms on their rockers.

 

I do, however, agree with the rattlesnakes vs sanding bit though!

 

Messi -- Now this is interesting. In my family, Great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, me - rockers (or chairs With arms. For my daughter and daughter-in-law -- arms are verboten. Now why is that? We are all built the same way, give or take a few inches in different directions.

 

Your daughters were probably given advice by some new-age weirdo that thinks anything from bygone eras must be wrong.
Or, that anything that makes a mother feel comfortable must some how be wrong - after all, we are now supposed to suffer for our children. LOLOL

 

A quick search on both ebay and google for antique nursing rocker brought up mostly armless versions. There were quite a few with low arms that seemed quite suited to the purpose but I wouldn't really know ......

 

I think they have come to be called that but, like with a lot of things, it's just wrong info being spread until everyone thinks it true. LOL
But, that's just me.

 

Thanks, Rivets, will follow this to a T.

I've already ripped off the leather and old cane.