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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Dining Chairs - What have I bought?

« on: April 24, 2012, 02:01:23 pm »

Oooh! Thanks talesofthesevenssea s..I am a bit excited now.

The carving at the top of each chair has inconsistencies between each one, lines a little longer or wider, different depths carved out.
The stippling appears to have been made using a tool with several 'pins', so whilst they appear to be in rows, they are worked around the raised part of the carving and differ slightly on each chair.
When planning to paint the chairs, this was the area I had reservations about and thought I would paint around the carving, leaving it as is.

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Dining Chairs - What have I bought?

« on: April 24, 2012, 01:10:19 pm »

Until I remove the fabric in June - a little update on some visual research I have been doing - does anyone think I might be completely off-track to say the chairs might be late Victorian?
Here are my clues - all these images come from auction websites listing the chairs as 'late victorian' and / or walnut (as suggested by frogpatch)

- Shape of the tops of the outer uprights
- Carved front legs, straight back
- Curly motif
- General condition of the wood

These examples are a lot more decorative than the chairs I have bought, but the auction prices are in keeping with what I paid.

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Dining Chairs - What have I bought?

« on: April 23, 2012, 03:27:34 pm »

Thank you all for your replies so far... interesting suggestions.
I'll be sure to take photos when I remove the fabric.

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Dining Chairs - What have I bought?

« on: April 23, 2012, 02:53:54 pm »

Thanks for your interest talesofthesevenseas .
The light isn't so great here now, but I have turned the chairs over and too the following photos of the underside.

The springs can clearly be felt through the sacking! will have to do something about that...

I can't see anything special about the underside, but then I'm no expert!
Hope these help....

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Antique Questions Forum / Dining Chairs - What have I bought?

« on: April 23, 2012, 01:09:28 pm »

Hi,
I recently bought 4 wooden dining chairs with a view to painting them and re-upholstering more to my taste.
This will be a summer project - so in the meantime I thought I had better find out a bit more about them in case I was about to ruin something lovely.
Any help concerning the age / style / likely provenance of these chairs would be really helpful (as I always like a story!)
Also, do you think it would be a crime to paint them?

They have sprung seats - the upholstery is evidently not original, but has very little wear. Thin varnish layer is worn, spotted and bumped in places. As far as i can tell they have the same wood throughout and the same carving motif on each. They are heavy and very solid.

I paid £30 for the 4 chairs - which even if they turn out to be replicas / mish-mashed designs I am very happy with as they were bought to be practical day to day furniture.

Thanks in advance, Hannah