Thank you for the reply, I'm going to take them to an expert over the weekend to find out for sure their age, value, etc. Do you know if there are any identifying marks to look for to determine the builder? Also, here's a little more info:
Metal spring cushions
Embroidered fabric
Convex push pins with dimpled heads
Very few antique chairs carry identifying marks that would allow one to ascertain who made them (although there are exceptions like Stickley). Older 18th -19th century chairs that are valuable, high style pieces almost never have a makers mark but are usually attributed to a particular cabinetmaker based on construction and detail features that are unique to that particular cabinetmaker.
In the case of your chairs, they are most likely factory made and the most you might expect to find would be some chalk numbers used in the factory to identify a particular lot. Once the machine age arrived around the turn of the century, furniture production quickly moved from small independent cabinetmakers to large assembly line factories that could churn out hundreds of pieces a day. Empire Revival furniture was sold in large quantities during the early 1900s through the Sears catalogue and major department stores.
I've attached a pic of a chair of similar vintage and design. While this pictured chair shares many of the basic design characteristics of your chairs, it appears that your chairs are certainly more elaborate and the ball and claw carving is much finer. While the chairs are certainly attractive, in their present condition, I'd put a value of $450 for the pair on a good day. If you're planning to sell them, I'd just clean them up and sell them as is. Investing in re-upholstering them will be a losing proposition as you'd be lucky to increase the value of the chairs 40c for every dollar spent on reupholstry. Good luck.
