Horn ROCKING chair, Many questions!

[arsinaloftheapocalypse]

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! 

[mariok54]

Hi,

I'd never heard of horn rockers until your post, so can't be much help .. but I did find this site which which, if you haven't already seen it, might be interesting.

http://www.longhornmuseum.com/BuckhornFriedrichKeilman.htm

[Redfrog42]

I can't add anything of value but I needed to say. Holy cow that is an awesome chair! So unique. I hope you can find a value but if all else fails I bet you could get on Antiques Roadshow with that baby.

[waywardangler]

I will add my 2c. I think the wood is quarter sawn oak. I think the screws are original as they would have been used  during the time this chair was made. This is a very neat chair and I have seen examples pictured in M.A.D. (Maine Antique Digest) from time to time. The refinishing of the wood and replacement seat decrease the monetary value of the chair. The original photo of the chair in the home would add to the chair's value and provenance. I would not replace the beaver fur at the base of the horns if it entails removing any original beaver fur that is left. I would treasure this and keep it in the family. Enjoy.

[KC]

Wayward said it all.  Keep as much original as possible!!!!

I love the unique old things that made use of everything!  Enjoy your treasure!

[Oceans64]

First let me say WOW!!    This chair is fantastic!  LOVE the hearts at the top!

I am no chair expert by any stretch but I like to look and read about 'em. As with most antiques, I think value is more a function of rarity, provenance, craftsmanship and overall aesthetics.  In that regard, it's got everything going for it!  I would also agree that American antiques get more $$ but that (IMO) is probably due to geography.  In America we like to surround our self with American items.  In Germany, they probably would like a chair from their own history etc...

Seems to me with the right buyer, right economy, etc this chair could get $3000++. Especially if it could be sold locally as it would pertain to local history.  Can you imagine this sitting in a nice mountain lodge somewhere?  I keep thinking of Gerry Spence's gorgeous Montana Home    

I'm with Wayward...  Don't change a thing.  The screws are probably original - (as long they are slotted and not Phillips   ) - Are the screws holding the horns together? Don't change out the fur, seat or anything.  If you wanted to add fur you could always drape an old pelt along the seat or something.  

Wonderful chair!  Thanks for sharing!

[Oceans64]

Do you know if they actually built the wood parts of the chair?  I was thinking that they could have used an existing chair and added the horns.  Not that it really matters, just curious...

Also...  I just re-read what you wrote...  When was the seat replaced and the chair refinished?

[waywardangler]

The prices on these are all over the place...from $400 -$9500. Here is a horn rocker up for auction and the estimate is $1000-1500. http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9047844 The auction is May 11 so the price would be a current snapshot of the market.

Here is a child's horn rocker for $1850.  http://caseantiques.com/item/texas-child-horn-steer-chair/

And a GREAT old horn chair with the original worn leather seat for $8750. http://www.newel.com/PreviewImage.aspx?ItemID=13665

Which leads me to my next question...Do you have the original leather seat no matter what condition it is in?

[talesofthesevenseas]

Holy cow is right! I usually dislike horn furniture, but this one is done with such care, that it really is beautiful. I'm in agreement with what was said about the screws, they are likely original and should be left as is.

[mart]

Wood is as Wayward says quarter sawn oak, Agree with all the rest !! Many look at pieces like yours as folk art and they can get pricey !! Leave it alone, never attempt a "fix" on items that are unique and antique !!  Thats where the value lies,, being one of a kind !!  Just gather all the documentation you can and keep it !!  A little narrative of the history is always good !!  You would be surprised at how much that will add to value !!

[arsinaloftheapocalypse]

@ 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!

[ayashe]

WOW! Sorry I can't add a single thing more than that. I don't know anything about your beautiful chair, but it sounds like it's in good hands and it's nice to hear you take such an interest in an heirloom belonging to your boyfriend's family.

Just for fun (as I you mentioned you had seen other chairs before), I thought I'd post a pic of a similar chair I saw in Colorado at a museum. It was amazing; slightly different from yours but nevertheless, they are both incredibly impressive pieces. I seem to remember that this one was from the turn of the last century also though I may be wrong. Best of luck finding a value, sorry I couldn't be of any help!