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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Modern looking ceramic owl what era? Eames?

« on: April 26, 2011, 09:14:37 pm »

I definitely don't know much, but I may have some ideas to offer
The crazing doesn't always necessarily mean age. It can be due to exposure to the elements...too dry, too wet, extreme temperature changes...I've seen some fairly new pieces of my own begin to deteriorate in this manner in a matter of months as they were in a metal storage area. The glaze just couldn't handle the extreme heat and cold changes.

But what I find unique about this piece is the eyes. In western culture, owls are generally a symbol of knowledge because of their wide and sharp eyes. This one has very narrow angular slits.

In many eastern and native american cultures the owl was significant to much darker forces. Often appearing in myths and legends as a death bringer or sometimes even embodied demonic presence.
With those thin angry looking almost judgmental eyes, the dark colors and the lack of features that draw you to the horn like protrusions of the head, I'd look into pieces from eastern cultures.

As well, I recognize the painting style, but for the life of me can not make a connection in my head to what it was called. Finding that out, as well, may help to date this little critter

Hope some of that helps, and good luck!

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Horn ROCKING chair, Many questions!

« on: April 26, 2011, 08:20:25 pm »

@ mariok54- You know, as much time as I spent looking through websites and images, I didn't come across that website! Thanks so much! Beautiful examples there!

@ waywardangler- Your two cents is much appreciated!
We spoke with my boyfriend's father today, and he said he was under the impression the seat was, indeed, oak. I will make sure to mark this in my notes on the piece
All of the original beaver fur is gone. Unfortunately it was stored in a garage attic for a short time and pests took the pieces for nesting materials. The leather that was underneath, however seems undamaged and is in it's own right quite beautiful as well!
As prices go, I had not seen the newel page price, but I had come across the two other rockers. I wasn't sure how comparable they would be to our chair since they are both upholstered in a much bigger way than ours, and stylistically were ladies and children's specific.
Unfortunately, the original seat, as well, is long gone

@ Oceans64- Good point on the geography aspect! I didnt really think of it that way, but you are most likely right in that sense. I read that they were sought after for the recent western trend in many homes, but I dont see many Germans having a Texan theme Shows how well my brain works on overtime hours
The screws are holding together horns, yes. there are only 4 of them that i saw on my first inspection. I dont know if they are visible in my images, but they are nearly as bulky as the round ended pegs in the chamois horns.
Also, good idea on the pelt! We are considering potentially displaying it in this year's antiques road show and something like that would make great for display purposes!

The seat was completely hand made and designed for this chair. The seat leather and refinish was done in the 80's. A family friend was intrigued by the chair and knelt on the seat to get a closer look at the back. Unfortunately his knee tore through the old leather. In his guilt he offered to affix a new piece.
He also removed the original dark color on the wood. I am not sure if it was a varnish, stain, or ? I was told as well he replaced leather that was under the seat at the corners. You can just barely see it in my pictures.

@ talesofthesevenseas- Agreed! I have seen many pieces that are tacky, very busy and just not appealing to the eye. I am not a big fan of wester style furniture myself, but this piece has fantastic eye catching curves and is quite pleasing to look at by many comparisons.

@ the rest of the posters in this thread; Thank you all kindly for your compliments, information and helpful attitude!
This helps us out a lot! I do still have some unanswered questions, but the majority I feel good about Thank you all very much!

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Antique Questions Forum / Horn ROCKING chair, Many questions!

« on: April 26, 2011, 02:39:40 am »

Hello! arsinal here with many questions on a unique piece I hope someone(or several someones) might be able to help me with! I tend to get wordy and overly thorough, so please forgive my long post

I live with my boyfriend and he has put in front of me an AMAZING piece of American art. A family heirloom horn rocking chair! I have searched information fairly extensively trying to find a range value for this piece, and information about potentially restoring some minor damages. Unfortunately I have come to a stand still.

Background information:

This chair was built by my boyfriend's great grandfather(Joe), and great grandfather's brother(Al).
The chair was finished in 1902.
It is made of two Texas long-horn steer horns, many smaller steer horns painstakingly collected over what seems to have been years from a butcher in Cicero, Ill, and four chamois horns. The chamois horn was a gift from Joe's uncle John, who shot the animal himself in the Swiss Alps!

There are two dark colored pegs holding together the chamois horns. I am not sure if they are made of wood or horn, as I didn't get close enough to inspect them. There are metal screws connecting a few of the steer horns.

There are also some leather upholstering and the seat is made of what I believe is Flame Birch.
The seat of the chair has a circular leather inset and originally had brass sunburst style upholstery tacks. Unfortunately, age took its toll on the original leather piece and it has since been replaced, and poorly.
Based on the original leather that surrounds the bases of the arm rests, the seat leather was probably a dark reddish color, and fairly thin. The replacement leather is a very natural tan color, the tacks are very generic and bulky, and they are set very sloppily.

It seems as well, the wood of the chair was originally a very dark color, like a cherry wood. When the leather of the seat was replaced, all of the wood on the chair was refinished, and is now the natural color with probably and oil or a wax finish to let the unique quality of the flame birch through.

Along with the leather of the seat, there used to be beaver fur surrounding the base of the steer horns that connect to the seat. This has been lost with age, but a beautiful dark reddish leather still covers the seams of the horn and wood.

Questions:

Is it normal to see metal screws in this period? If not, what would I look for to know if the metal screws are original? Is there a way to tell without removing them from the chair? I really don't want to risk damaging this beautiful piece!

It seems rarer to find the circular leather inset in the seat of a chair, so I am not sure if this was a stylistic thing or if it had a purpose.
 Is this feature unique to rocking chairs? It also seems many of the examples I found had what looked like a family crest embossed(I'm unsure of the proper term for image stamped into leather?) into them. Is this the purpose of this feature, or is there a different comfort purpose or some other reason?

Is there a way to figure out what animal the original leather is from? Would it be in our interest to try to replace the leather seat circle with something more color appropriate? If so, would it be better to fill the holes made by the previous tacks, or to leave them as is?

Would it be of interest to replace the beaver fur that originally adorned the base of the horns?

Ive seen other horn chairs at largely different values. I have not seen an American rocker in this style at all.
I read that the older Victorian/German pieces are worth less than American due to market trends, but I can not seem to attach much in the way of price to Victorian vs American.
I've seen pieces from $1,000-$5,000. And one site suggested an average range of $3,000 to $5,000 for American pieces depending on the manufacturer, but suggested that hand made pieces that could be traced to a maker would be worth a considerable amount more.
The family is interested mainly for insurance purposes, but also simply for the novelty of knowing!

I have some pictures here, and can get many more as needed! I also have a black and white photo from a family book that shows the piece in its original home. I can add if desired, but it is very small, fairly dark and hard to see detail. 

Thanks in advance for any helpful information, and I look forward to hearing any and all thoughts or ideas!