Featured Windsor

Looking for thoughts on this Windsor and it's origins. (Have three others I may post later.)
Original green paint, then red, then black on underside of seat. Possibly traces of black in turnings, but nothing else.
I want to say Connecticut.
Would love to hear from some with more expertise.

 

Lovely chair.
Maybe early 1800s, wait for other opinions.

 

@verybrad
@James Conrad
@Ghopper1924

 

Fan back windsor, i'd guess first half 19th century. Since the paint is stripped/ gone, that hurts value but still, nice chair.

 

It could be Conn but also A LOT of other places too, the turnings remind me of Mass. chairs. Where are you, where did you get chair?

 

Bought in Georgia, no provenance.
From my understanding upturned ears were not common in Mass.

 

Yeah, i am not so sure about that. Here is a matched set of fan back Windsors from Salem Mass about 1790. Thing is, these chairs beginning in the 18th century, have been built continuously till today by the millions up & down the eastern seaboard. So, unless the chairs are branded or you can match construction details with a known maker, gonna be tough to attribute to a maker or region.
http://www.americanantiqueart.com/html/set_of_six_fan-back_windsor_side-chairs.html

 

One thing i notice that is unusual is, the spindles appear to be pinned to the crest rail. If that is correct, it might help determine who & where. Why do you think Conn which BTW could be correct?

 

Can't add any more to what others have said. Nice chair BTW.

 

New England, how 'bout that? Nice one.

 

Yes, that's how you usually see them listed at auction when maker/region is unknown. They built these chairs everywhere though, very popular chairs, even today.

 

Here's the lot of them.

 

Interesting.
At first glance the 3 appear to match, until you look closer.
Chair 1 the back spindles appear to bulge, where as #2 & 3 are straight spindles.
Also notice length of the side spindles near the seat.
The width of the seats appear to be different.
As does the length of the bottom of the legs.

Nice chairs.

 

Yeah, that's a problem with photo's of old furniture, pic's often lie, i do not know why. This is why an in person examination is the only way to authenticate old furniture.
Another consideration is, if these chairs were built in first half 19th century as i suspect they were, they are entirely hand made & there should be slight differences in each.

 

Prior to 1850 in america, the legs would have been turned on a "pole lathe", a wood-turning lathe that uses a long pole as a return spring for a treadle. Pressing the treadle with your foot pulls on a cord that is wrapped around the piece of wood or billet being turned
Painting of an early wood turner


The spindles are to small & "whippy" to turn on a lathe so they would most likely have been done or finished with a "spokeshave".

 

After 1850 ( aprox date) in america, most chair parts would have been built with steam powered machines & the chair parts would be almost identical. The difference between hand & machine made chair parts are easily seen in person & It would be GREAT! if you could see these differences in photographs but for whatever reason, you can't, at least i can't.
It's worth remembering that prior to the 18th century, only the man of the house would have a chair to sit in as they were expensive, women and children would have sat on stools.

 

Thus the term "chairman."

 

Hmmm, i never thought about that but, it makes sense! VERY politically incorrect back in the day when men were men! and women and kids sat on stools! BAM!

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13th everyone!

 

For real(s)!

And thanks for the good wishes. Traditionally, a lucky day for me

 

Tell you what, Cluttered maybe onto something here, i didn't notice before but chair #1 & chair #4 appear to have 9 spindles but chair #2 & 3 have 7 spindles?