Sheraton Single Chair in Mahogany with Straight Legs - A Regency Arm and Single Chair - Regency Mahogany Sabre-Leg Chair

A simpler Sheraton design with tapering legs normally made in mahogany, c. 1800. The arm uprights are of straightforward turning without the spiral reeding which adds greatly to price. An elegant and simple style
which remained popular for many years.
A mahogany armchair of c.1800 date. An excellent example of a good quality chair, as evidenced in the reeding and lightness of design of the back. The turned legs are a little clumsier and have hints of later things to come.
A mahogany Sheraton style single chair, c.1800, with Gothic arching in the design of the back. The legs are tapered on the inside edge only and are reeded, as is the back. An elegant and simple chair.
Country Sheraton design armchair in mahogany with bowed solid seat, c.1810. A satisfying and simple country design of which many were made to meet the popular demand caused by the town versions.
A rather heavier Sheraton style mahogany country chair with drop-in seat, c.1810. The broad top rail of the back has been made slightly wider than the back uprights which detracts slightly from the elegance of the
style. Otherwise the construction and tapering legs are typical.
An elegant chair of the early Regency period, c.1820, with caned back and seat. The outward turn of the simulated bamboo legs is most effective and the balance is completed by the curved top rail. The seat rail and the top rail are inlaid with stringing in the approved classical manner. Many of these chairs were made of birch or beech and then ebonised or painted. They are almost inevitably very expensive.
A country Sheraton single chair in mahogany with straight legs and solid seat, c.1810. The square back with vertical rails owes much to the popularity of Sheraton styles, otherwise the design comes from a
straightforward eighteenth century construction.
Late eighteenth/early nineteenth century oak spindle-back chairs, sometimes called ‘Lancashire’ chairs. They are rush-seated and are sometimes made of elm.
A very simplified country chair of c.1800. The design owes something to Sheraton in the tapering front legs and squared style of the back. The two horizontal rails are very plain and more ornamented versions are to be found. The solid bowed seat is made of elm and the rest of the chair is fruitwood.
Another very elegant Regency chair, c.1825, with rope twist motif on the back and sabre legs. The caned seat again adds to the overall lightness of design.
A similar pair of Regency chairs with reeding continuous down back uprights, sides and sabre legs. The carved decoration is simple and elegant,1830
A Regency period library chair which converts into a set of steps, c.1830. These chairs usually attracted a high degree of craftsmanship and are normally in either mahogany or rosewood. The arms and sabre front legs exhibit typical Regency characteristics although there is a hint of William IV in the broad carved top back rail.
Rather a hybrid piece of furniture which was either little made originally or subject to demolition from heavy bibliophiles. Either way, now becoming rarer and more expensive.
A Regency arm and single chair, c.1825, similar to the previous example in rope twist design but with drop in seats instead of cane. The panel between the horizontal rails in the back is inlaid with brass.
A late Regency or William IV period chair made of mahogany, c.1835. In the heavy curl of the arms and the reeded front legs the approach of the Victorian era is foretold. The bold, wide, outward-pointing top rail is
typical of the 1830 - 40 decade. Look out for conversion front legs, i.e. the original turned and reeded ones are sometimes removed and replaced by sabre legs to increase value.
Balance of top rail  (heavy top rails detract).
A typical Regency mahogany sabre-leg chair of pleasing proportion and design, c.1830. Elegant and small, yet comfortable, this type of chair has become understandably very popular since the war of 1939 - 45. They
are also to be found in rosewood, an even heavier and more durable wood which increases their value.

CHAIRS — cabriole leg, low back
The lower back chairs are normally associated with the George I period. Certainly the design settled down around the 1720s and carved decoration became increasingly used.
A good George I example. The seat rail is much deeper than those of the previous section and the back is lower. The carved shell is hipped into the seat and the top rail is scooped into a definite hollow in the middle.
The top rail is also more rounded in appearance and the distinction between it and the back uprights more difficult to define, as they flow into each other. The flat face of the uprights, splat and seat rails are veneered
for decoration. c. 1725    Single $2,500 — 3,500 Pair $8, 000 — 12, 000
This very fine chair with the shepherd’s crook arms has superb cabrioles with hipped decoration on the knee, ball-and-claw feet and despite the low back, superb movement. A collector’s dream. c.1720
A country version with the fashionable low front (not always a pot cupboard), a veneered back splat and firmly fixed shepherd’s crook arms. c.1720
A lesser quality chair on which the shell carving on the knee has an almost stuck-on appearance and looks out of place. Note that the chair is made of solid walnut and features no veneer, although the face of the back uprights is flat, as though to be veneered. See how material has been saved in producing the shaped back uprights — the lower inward curve of the left hand back upright is a different piece of wood joined to the main upright: the lighter colour betrays it. c. 1720
A mahogany high quality chair with carved decoration — see how the curving back uprights end in eagles’ heads where they meet the top rail. Cuban mahogany encouraged a revival in the carver’s art. Notice too that
the seat has become larger and generally more solid. A move towards Chippendale. 1730-1740
A fruitwood chair with rounded back uprights rather like chairs from the previous section. It has a rather country appearance despite the quality of the cabrioles and back splat, which is quite sophisticated. c.1730
Although this chair has lost its front feet, it illustrates a stretchered type with flat-faced back uprights, the whole chair being made in solid walnut. It has little of the curvature of the back which the chairs in the previous section show, although akin to them below the seat level. Note that the shoulder piece is missing on the right hand cabriole. c.1735