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| Clunky construction shows chair is not old |
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Q: Could you help me with this chair? I was drawn to its size. It is huge, standing at 5-feet tall. It looks like a throne. I have no idea where it’s from, there’s nothing to identify it that I can find. It has beautiful carved arms and legs. Any help would be appreciated. Would you have any idea of a general value of it?
A: Your chair is a 20th century reproduction of a late 17th early 18th century Flemish or Louis XIV chair. Yours is factory made in the 1930s, probably American made. It would sell at auction in the $125 range.
Q: Can you help me with any info about the rocker pictured in the enclosed photo? It has a paper label on the under side Heywood Brothers, Wakefield Chicago USA and a number 555-6. I do not want to sell it. It has tons of sentimental value to me and I want to refinish it somehow. I am told that if I refinish it I will ruin its value as an antique. It has such intricate design and is quite sturdy. I would love to place it in my family room instead of a stuffy hot attic.
A: The company known as Heywood Brothers and Wakefield was formed in 1897 with the merger of two old line companies – Heywood Brothers and Wakefield Rattan. The company name was changed again in 1921 when it merged with Lloyd Loom to form Heywood-Wakefield. That means your chair was made between 1897 and 1921, probably closer to the earlier date based on the Chicago label. Go ahead and refinish the chair to suit you. It is a factory made chair and only technically an antique. In its current condition it has little or no value, only potential. Any improvement in condition will improve both appearance and current market value. And tell whoever gave you that advice about refinishing to stop watching so much “antique” television.
Q: I was reading a posting that you commented on awhile ago and I was wondering if you could tell me if you think either one of these beds are faux or real antique Jenny Lind beds. Any other information that you have by looking at these pictures is greatly appreciated.
A: Johanna Maria Lind (10/6/1820– 11/2/1887), better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish opera singer who toured America from 1850 to 1852 giving 93 large scale performances. She expressed a fondness for a particular type of bed that became popularly known as the “Jenny Lind” bed. The bed was a type of spool turned bed made more easily available in the 1850s by the invention of the multiple cutting head lathe so that a large spindle could be spool turned in a short time rather than the old method of one spool at a time.
The bed Lind was partial too had sharp angles on the solid portion of the headboard with spool turned spindles elsewhere. The type of bed that has no solid portion of the headboard and has rounded corners on the head and footboard is not the true “Jenny Lind” fashion.
Feedback
“Regarding the desk in the Feb. 9 AntiqueWeek column, it almost certainly started life as an organ, not a piano. The cabinet style is called a “flat top” and was very popular in the 1860s and 1870s.
The Reed Organ Society website has a database that may help to identify it - here’s a link: www.reedsoc.org
Some cases that are quite close in style include registration numbers 1633, 2649, 0931 and 0009, Fred.”
Fred, thank you for your input on the Feb 9 article. You are of course absolutely right. After wading through the reed organ database I believe the desk appears to be from one of the Mason & Hamlin models, either the 0931 or the 0009. My vote is the 0931 from 1867.
Thank you for your insight and thank you for sharing your knowledge. |
| 3/4/2009 |
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