GEORGE III PAINTED ARMCHAIRS - LIBRARY ARMCHAIR - GILTWOOD ARMCHAIR - DINING CHAIRS - HALL CHAIRS - GEORGE II UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR

A GEORGE III GILTWOOD ARMCHAIR, the moulded
frame with oval back with padded arms and downswept
supports, the moulded serpentine seatrail centred by an
anthemion clasp, raised on circular tapering fluted legs
with fluted oval feet, circa 1770.

A GEORGE III LIBRARY ARMCHAIR, the rectangular
stufied back with down-curved padded arm supports,
with a loose cushion, on square chamfered moulded legs
joined by H-stretchers, circa 1770.

A GEORGE III GILTWOOD ARMCHAIR in the French manner,
the stuffed cartouche-shaped back within a moulded
frame with out-curved padded arms on scrolling supports, the stuffed seat
with a carved apron on cabriole legs, circa 1775.

A GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED ARMCHAIR in the French taste,
the padded cartouche-shaped back within a moulded frame
with outcurved padded arms on scrolling moulded supports, the
stuffed serpentine seat on cabriole legs, circa 1770.

A SET OF six GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS,
including an Armchair, the arched toprails with pierced
splats carved with rosettes and husks around a patera, the
armchair with out-curved moulded arm supports, with
stuffed seats, curved seat fronts, and turned fluted front
legs, circa 1780.

A SET OF TWELVE MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS, the
rectangular backs with three stick splats, with stuffed
seats and square tapering legs with block feet and
H stretchers.

A GEORGE III WHITE-PAINTED SIDE CHAIR in the
French style, the oval padded back with a moulded
edge, the wedge-shaped stuffed seat on elegant cabriole
legs, circa 1770.

A SET OF THREE REGENCY BRASS-INLAID SIDE CHAIRS
in simulated rosewood, the rope-twist toprail above
two reeded crossbars joined by a panel inlaid with a
rosette and fleur de lys, the stuffed drop-in seats on
sabre legs, circa 1810.

A SET OF FIVE LATE GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING
CHAIRS including an Armchair, with curved
panelled toprails, three fluted crossbars, the armchair
with downcurved moulded arms on baluster supports,
with stuffed seats and ring-turned baluster legs, circa 1815.

A SET OF six GOOD REGENCY MAHOGANY HALL
CHAIRS, each shaped back with simple incised decoration
and a central roundel painted with an armoriai crest, the
solid seats with canted corners and canted sabre front
legs, circa 1805, with squab cushions.

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY ARMCHAIR, the serpentine
toprail and pierced vase-shaped splat with outcurved
arms, drop-in seat on square legs joined by stretchers,
circa 1765, arms later.

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY ARMCHAIR of bergere
form, the arched stuffed back with a moulded frame and
with stuffed bow-fronted seat and reeded tapering legs,
circa 1780.

A SET OF six GEORGE III MAHOGANY CHAIRS, the
rectangular backs with three fluted splats, the solid seats
with squab cushions, on square tapering legs joined by
stretchers, circa 1800.

A LATE GEORGE II UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR, the
high padded back with scrolling arms and the stuffed
seat on square moulded legs joined by turned stretchers,
circa 1750.

A PAIR OF GEORGE II MAHOGANY CHAIRS with
gadrooned serpentine toprails, interlaced pierced splats,
the drop-in seats on carved cabriole legs ending in pad
tetl, circa 1760.)

A PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY SIDE CHAIRS with
shaped toprails, pierced interlaced splat and the drop-in
seat on square chamfered legs joined by an H-stretcher,
circa 1765.

A PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY CHAIRS, with arched stufFed
rectangular backs with padded seat on square legs joined by an H-stretcher,
circa 1770.

A SET OF EIGHT GEORGE III PROVINCIAL MAHOGANY
DINING CHAIRS including a pair of Armchairs, with
serpentine toprails pierced vase splats, outcurved arms
and the serpentine-fronted drop-in seats on square
moulded legs, circa 1770, restored     1500-2000
154 A SET OF FOUR GEORGE III MAHOGANY CHAIRS, the
hooped backs with pierced waisted splats headed by
wheat-ears, the stufFed seats on square tapering legs with
H-stretchers, circa 1770.

A SET OF FOUR GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING
CHAIRS, the shaped moulded backs with pierced,
carved and waisted splats decorated with swags and
paterae, the drop-in seats on square tapering legs,
circa 1780.

A PAIR OF REGENCY CHAIRS with curved panelled
toprails, crossbars, drop-in seats and reeded sabre legs,
circa 1815.

A REGENCY EBONISED ARMCHAIR, the ringed toprail decorated
with flowers above moulded crossbars joined by caning,
with down-curved scrolling arms on scroll supports, with squab

cushion and caned seat, on moulded turned and fluted sabre legs, circa 1810.

A PAIR OF EBONISED AND PARCEL-GILT ARMCHAIRS,
similarly decorated to the previous lot, with square
tapering legs joined by stretchers, circa 1800, originally
unpainted.

A SET OF SIX REGENCY EBONISED DINING CHAIRS,
the turned toprails painted with bunches of flowers
above four crossbars held by gilt balls, with squab
cushions’and caned seats, on ringed splayed tapering
front legs joined by a double stretcher set with a ball,
circa 1810, decoration restored.

A GEORGE II MAHOGANY CORNER ARMCHAIR of
unusual form, with a tall narrow arched upholstered
back, with semi-circular flat crossbars below, the arms
with turned supports and with saddle-shaped seat and
cabriole leg and three further turned legs joined by
turned stretchers, circa 1735.

A GEORGE II WALNUT CORNER ARMCHAIR, with
pierced splats, stuffed drop-in seat and chamfered legs,
joined by stretchers, mid-18th Century    150-250
27 A GEORGE II BOOKCASE with moulded dentil
cornice above a pair of glazed doors with lancet mullions,
containing shelves, the base with two short drawers and
brass handles, 7ft. 5in. high by 5ft. Hin. wide (226cm. by
180.5cm.) circa 1760.

A PAIR OF GEORGE III PAINTED ARMCHAIRS,
the moulded frames with padded shield backs,
padded arms and downswept supports, and the
bow-fronted fluted seatrails on circular

tapering fluted legs, circa 1775, now painted
white and gilt, partly re-railed.

A SET OF SIX LATE GEORGE III CANED MAHOGANY
CHAIRS including a pair of Armchairs, with shallow
curved and caned toprails and matching crossbars, the
seats with rounded corners and circular reeded tapering
legs, the arms with pillar supports, circa 1800, one toprail
and one back broken.

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.

George III Wing Armchair Upholstered - Mahogany Wing Armchair - Eighteenth Century French Armchair

A George III wing armchair upholstered in leather  c.1770. Note the square stretcher and leg construction of ‘Chippendale’ design. The curve of the wings is pleasant but the arms are a little stiff.
Price Range: $200  $300
N.B. As these chairs command high prices there is a grave temptation to make a set of legs in the Georgian style and cover the modern frame with leather. Such examples usually lack the fluency of curve which was
found in better class examples. A good dealer will leave the underneath uncovered to show genuine period features.
A Chinese Chippendale mahogany armchair with upholstered back and arms, c.1760. The bamboo motif is evident. The front legs are a remarkable achievement of craftsmanship and the nicely-scrolled brackets add
considerable balance. The upholstery covering is of typical period design. The legs are of clustered column design.
A later George III period  c.1790  mahogany wing armchair. The sweep of the curve formed by the wings and the back rail is important. Compare the straight high line of the wings and arms in this example with the
fluency of the two previous examples. This example is also rather thin, lacking the generous proportions of the better quality chairs. The lines would be improved by upholstery but the basic quality is lacking. The legs are tapered, ending in casters.
Price Range: $60  $90
Value points: Line of back, arms and wings
Mid-eighteenth century chair in mahogany showing Chippendale construction in legs and stretchers, c.1760.
Carving or moulding on legs  Originality of casters
George II period  c.1740  mahogany chair with stuffed back and saddle-shaped seat. Covered in Soho tapestry woven with birds and small landscapes in broad naturalistic flower borders; on scrolled cabriole legs. Price Range: $150  $200
Regency period chair decorated with brass or painted gilt mounts, frequently ebonised.
Price Range: $20  $40
Value points.- Brass decorations
Well curved leg with stretcher
A later eighteenth century chair, probably c.1795, with leather upholstery, on turned legs. The shaping of the back still follows the ’saddle’ style, but the chair is cruder and the legs date it much later. Price Range: $100
$140
A George III period  c.1780  open armchair with arched stuffed back and padded arms on curved supports with anthemion carving, the moulded frame with bead carving, the stuffed seat on turned tapering  legs with
lotus leaf feet.
An open giltwood armchair  c.1760  with considerable Adam influence in the frieze and fluted legs.
A later eighteenth century open armchair of French influence, but actually of a type made also by Chippendale, c.1780. The decoration includes cartouche backs headed by shell cabochons. The frame is carved with leaf mouldings, the scrolled arms with leaf shoulders. Covered in later gros-point needlework with panels of flowers in key-pattern frame against a blue ground with roses.
Bergere caned chair of Regency period, in rosewood, c.1830. These well made chairs have increased in popularity over recent years.

Eighteenth Century Windsor Chair - A Child’s Windsor Chair with the Gothic Arched Back in Yew Wood

Eighteenth century Windsor chair. Difficult to date exactly since this type was made for a long time, but probably late in the century and continuing into the early nineteenth century. The simple stickback without a splat, and the saddle seat are typical of the earlier types. The curving arm supports are also interesting, since during and after the Regency period turned arm supports became the fashion. This indicates that this chair may be earlier. However, this design appears in Gillows’ cost books in the early nineteenth century both in mahogany and an elm and cherrywood combination.
Elm and cherrywood.
A child’s Windsor chair with the Gothic arched back in yew wood. Although the arm supports and legs bear fairly representative nineteenth century turning work, the crinoline stretcher and well shaped splat make this a nicely proportioned and well made chair.
A Windsor chair of c.1760. The seat would be very ample and the chair of bold proportions. Note the curving crinoline stretcher between the front legs  a feature usually associated with better-made chairs.
A comb-back Windsor chair of approximately 1780. Note the well-shaped saddle seat and the leg turning which is emphasized at the lower part. Many American Windsor chairs are of this design.
Price Range: Single $30  $40
(Yew not often found in this design)
Also, sets of this type are not usually found.
A fairly typical Windsor chair of the nineteenth century. The proportion and the turning of legs and arm supports are altogether heavier. There are still reasonable numbers of these chairs in existence and their very strong construction, particularly when yew is used, makes them very durable and utilitarian antiques.
A fairly common type of low-backed Windsor used for dining purposes. Note the turned arm supports which indicate nineteenth century origins.
Another simple variation of a type which was made during the latter half of the nineteenth century. In this case there is no left arm since the chair was made for an Officers’ mess where the facility to rise, wearing a
sword, without picking up the chair as well was a considerable advantage.
A mid-nineteenth century Mendlesham chair of c.1830, a Suffolk variation of Windsor designs rather allied to Lancashire chairs in the decoration. Highly priced in East Anglia.
A late nineteenth century development of the Windsor chair. Rather ornate with heavy turning; simpler versions were common in schools and offices or institutions until recently.
The Smoker’s Bow, a chair very common in offices and public houses from the end of the nineteenth century onwards. A large heavy chair which will stand considerable abuse. The horizontal hoop is no longer made by
bending the wood but is constructed from several pieces shaped on a band saw and screwed together. In early Windsor chairs this method of forming the hoop was adopted, but not always by using screws; the upright spindles did this.

Antique Set of Mahogany Chairs, Dining Chairs and Settee

A SET OF SEVEN GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS
Each with a shield-shaped back and pierced vase splat, with a padded seat, on square tapered legs with spade feet, and a matching single chair of a later date.
A GEORGE II STYLE MAHOGANY OPEN ARMCHAIR
With a floral-carved top-rail and pierced interlaced vase splat, foliate-carved arms, tapestry drop-in seat and scroll-carved cabriole legs with claw and ball feet.
A SET OF EIGHT MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS, early 20th
century
Including a pair of elbow chairs, each with an undulating foliate-decorated top-rail and pierced chamfered Gothic arched sprats, with a drop-in seat, on moulded square tapered legs.
A GEORGE III STYLE MAHOGANY OPEN ARMCHAIR
With a serpentine top-rail and pierced foliate-carved vase splat, outswept arms with foliate scroll terminals, drop-in tapestry seat and scroll-carved cabriole legs with claw and ball feet.
A SET OF SIX REGENCY SIMULATED ROSEWOOD DINING CHAIRS
Each with a maple lotus-carved curved bar top-rail and horizontal splat, with a drop-in seat, on bead-decorated.
A SET OF TWELVE MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS
With ebonised incised lines, each with a key-pattern curved bar top-rail and horizontal splat, with a padded seat on sabre legs.
A SET OF SIX REGENCY MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS
Including one elbow chair, each with a brass-inlaid curved bar top-rail and rope-twist horizontal splat, with a drop-in seat, on moulded sabre legs .
A SET OF SIX GEORGE III MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS
Each with a moulded shaped arched top-rail centred by a foliate spray and a pierced reeded baluster splat, with a drop-in seat, on square tapered legs joined by stretchers
Each with an undulating top-rail and foliate-decorated Gothic arched splats, with a padded bowed seat, on tapering legs .
A MAHOGANY CHAIR-BACK SETTEE
The undulating back with shield-shaped panels with pierced vase splats, with a padded bowed seat, on square tapered legs with spade feet.
A SET OF TEN WALNUT DINING CHAIRS
Including a pair of. elbow chairs, each with a moulded curved bar top-rail and solid vase splat, with a slip-in seat, on cabriole legs terminating in pad feet.
A SET OF TEN MATCHING WALNUT DINING CHAIR
A WALNUT THREE-PIECE SUITE
In the William and Mary style, comprising a pair of armchairs and a three-seater settee, each with a caned panel back with a pierced arched foliate scroll cresting, with outswept scroll arms and padded seat, on ring-turned legs terminating in Braganza feet.
A PAIR OF GIFTWOOD WINDOW SEATS, early 19th century
Each with padded sides with reeded arm and tapered columns, with a padded seat, on turned tapered legs 42in.
A SIMULATED ROSEWOOD AND PARCEL-GILT ELBOW CHAIR,
early 19th century The U-shaped caned panel back and arms terminating in lions mask terminals, with bowed caned seat on ring-turned tapered legs terminating in paw feet, the decoration of a later date.
A SET OF EIGHT GEORGE IV MAHOGANY DINING CHAIRS
Each with a scroll curved arched bar topsail and reeded horizontal splats with cruciform panels, with a padded seat on moulded square tapered legs with turned feet, some stamped Wilkinson. Ludgate Hill, numbered variously 89.39, 8940, and initialled variously, T. N., H. Al., 1.G., 1. Al. (8) William Wilkinson used this stamp up to about 1820 and with his sons traded from this address until about 1840. Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Maney, 1968.
A GEORGE III MAHOGANY ELBOW CHAIR
The back with an undulating top-rail and pierced vase splat, with a padded seat, on square chamfered tapered legs; and an accompanying Victorian rosewood footstool, on bun feet.

CHAIRS — balloon back
The nineteenth century saw the development of many new styles of which the dominant one from 1840-1880s was the balloon back with cabriole and turned legs. The evolution is clear but one has only to look at The Pictorial Dictionary of 19th Century Furniture Design to see how style persisted, often over several decades. Confusion on dating is therefore very easy. Prices are for sets of six.  Single examples range from $40 — 70.
The back rail is thin and no longer straight but the decoration on the splat still harks back to William IV (late Regency) as does the drop-in seat and decoration on the legs. c. 1835
Shows a simulated rosewood Regency bedroom chair made of beech in which the splat has developed and an early form of ballooning is evolving. This light and elegant chair contrasts sharply with the late ones.
Set of six each.
A later heavier type with solid turned legs and rather clumsy decoration on the splat. c. 1870
Almost a balloon back but not quite, nevertheless a good design with moulded edges to the legs as well as inside the back.
In walnut with a warm colour not obvious from the photograph. The slight shaping on the top and the small carved supports give the chair an elegant look. c.1850
The later mechanical applied groove decoration and a very simple splat, the legs are pinched (see Agius). The price is relatively high because many people simply do not differentiate between quality. c. 1880
Still a very good chair with an intricate splat which is in its favour, but less style than the previous example. c. 1850
Chairs  show how the balloon shape could infect other chairs of the period, even papier mach& as in 200. Note the difference between the Victorian idea of cabriole and that of the early eighteenth century; the former is bandy legged by comparison. 1860. Set of six.
Moving down the scale, a simple splat and a not entirely successful attempt at decoration just above. The legs lack some of the elegance of the previous examples. c. 1850. If back broken — forget.

CHAIRS — turned leg, 1800-1840
The turned leg chairs of the 1800-1840 period derive from late Sheraton and other, usually classical, design influences of the period. Whereas the overall shape is clearly recognisable, an infinite variety of decorative
designs were used and it is again very difficult to range the quality of the enormous output.
A fine quality example with reeded arms and back. The top rail is also reeded and the legs reasonably restrained as far as the turning goes. 1810
Another restrained chair of simple, quite elegant design. c. 1825 Set of six
This chair shows how the legs can become over-turned to the point of weakness. The violently striped covering is not, of course, contempory. 1835
An elegant later chair with fine quality work in the back and the expected reeded legs of William IV origin. c. 1835
Almost the classic dealer’s mahogany dining chair of the late Georgian-Regency period. The arms now reach out to curve straight down into the front legs. The back centre rail is twist-turned and there is an inlaid brass stringing line in the top back rail.
A humbler example, where the legs are still elegant but the top rail of the back is wider and starting to grow into the heavier broad rail of the later part of the period. c. 1820
The broad top rail has started to be embellished by the Victorians, who were busy deciding to throw off such restraint as the severe straight tops of the previous examples, thus leading to 189. c. 1840
This chair shows how events can take an unpleasant turn, with front legs becoming bulbous and unnecessary cross-stretchers appearing. c. 1835
The rule for giving an approximate value for a set is to increase the single price as follows:
Here the top rail has broken out into a rebellion of a decidedly dashing nature. c. 1830-40
This design ran concurrently with the early balloon back and fits in well with cabrioles.  c. 1850    Set of six.

Balloon-back chair

The voluminous skirts of the mid-nineteenth-century woman needed wider, broader seats to chairs, and so the severe curves of Regency furniture swelled and rounded. There were several conflicting currents which influenced the Victorian furniture designers: the slim silhouettes of Sheraton furniture, the more angular shapes of the sabre-legged and
Signs of authenticity
1. Good quality solid woods with good graining.
2. Well-made frames with good thickness of wood for legs, back and seat frame.
3. Deep, incisive carving and shaping of back and seat rails.
4. Crest-rail join to tops of side supports should be seamless, virtually invisible with well-matched woods.
5. Solid, high-quality upholstery in curled horsehair – white for the very top quality.
6. No stretchers to legs – cheap mass-produced ‘period’ balloon backs were made with stretchers but they are neither durable nor particularly attractive.
7. Grain of front legs running up to corners of seat frame.
8. Grain of back legs continuing well above seat level to terminate at crest rail or design feature.
Likely restoration and repair
9. New upholstery covering whole of seat frame. This may indicate seat frames are split or broken, repaired and covered up.
10. Front legs replaced – either broken or ‘married’ from a better-designed chair.
11. Backs broken and repaired. Vulnerable points on inward curve of waist, and where crest rail joins back supports.
Plugs will probably be clearly visible.
12. Strengthening blocks or metal braces added to corners of underframe.
13. Original drop-in frames filled, upholstered over front and side seat rails.
the flush-sided chair, and a nostalgic hankering for the ,romantic’ shapes of Queen Anne and early eighteenth-century designs. Added to these, the technical advances in mass-production and the cheapness of labour lured designers into a tangle of unhappy liaisons. The cabriole leg reappeared, but with a thin scrolled or pad foot, all heavily carved and decorated. The fine lines of Sheraton’s taper-turning became bulbous, the reeding thickened, and even in such designers as Gillows of Lancaster, chairs seemed the least successful pieces of furniture as far as the eye was concerned.
In the balloon back, however. there was a mixture which. if not immediately appealing to the stricter rules of design was extremely successful as far as its function was concerned. It was, and still is, one of the most comfortable chairs ever made. Its waisted back reflects the shape of fashion, and though in many mass-produced chairs the front legs seem ill-assorted with the plain square-sectioned back legs, in many the results are well-balanced in a peculiarly Victorian way.
Balloon backs were made for a variety of purposes and differ 3 slightly in shape, depending on whether they were intended for the parlour, dining room,
bedroom and drawing room, or for occasional use as side chairs.
Construction and materials
Balloon backs were made in solid wood, in mahogany, rosewood, walnut, and simulated rosewood. Their construction reverts to the traditional one of front legs tenoned into the sides of the seat-frame and back legs continuing up to form the side supports of the back. Frames were usually of beech or birch with seats upholstered in cloth, needlepoint or leather with brass studs.
Many lighter balloon backs were made entirely in beech, stained or ebonized, and mass-produced with machine-cut timber and shallow
mechanical carved decoration. With these chairs, it is quality rather than date which determines price – good and bad designs were made simultaneously during their entire production period which spans nearly 100 years.
Detail
The most characteristic balloon-backs have a waisted back and a single seat rail, usually set low, carved and decorated. There were some designs made with a vertical back splat, carved and decorated, reaching only to the seat rail, and these were known as crown back.
The most familiar shape, with a crest rail which dips in the centre, is usually associated with rectangular,
square-fronted upholstered or drop-in seats and a straight seat rail. This design usually has heavily turned front legs, or stout, bulbous reeded front legs. On oval-back chairs, the seat is rounded and the legs are frequently an emasculated version of the cabriole leg, terminating in little scrolls, outward curving and somewhat bandy, sometimes with small tapered feet. Heavier salon chairs were often set on castors. Some of the more pleasing designs have upholstered back panels.
Variations
Period country designs were not made by individual country chair-makers, involving as it did many mass-production methods. Cheaper versions made in very reputable furniture-making centres were certainly destined for Victorian cottages, and were usually made in beech, painted or stained, with cheap-quality upholstery materials and little or no carved decoration. Many people find these simple shapes preferable to the more ornate provincial chairs, so they are by no means always less expensive.
Below left: nineteenth-century Adam revival chair with upholstered back, carved crest rail and apron, and curving, ‘French style’, legs.
Below right: early balloon-back, c.1845, with curved crest rail, waisted back, neatly turned front legs and upholstered seat.
Reproductions
It is doubtful whether any manufacturer has yet found it a commercial proposition to reproduce balloon-back chairs. They were made in such enormous quantities that there are still plentiful supplies of genuine period chairs available which, with restoration, stripping, reupholstery and general repair, find a ready market.
Mixing and matching is carried out on quite a large scale: for example, a bulbously unattractive front leg replaced by a better-looking design, either newly made or taken from other chairs in poor condition. The only pitfall occurs when mahogany front legs have been added to a chair otherwise made entirely of beech, or vice versa. It does not enhance the value, since, although the ultimate product may look better, it is clearly a marriage and therefore not worth as much even as the original cheaper chair made entirely of beech.
No doubt there will come a time when these extremely comfortable, typically Victorian chairs are reproduced, then it will be a question of becoming aware of modern methods of construction and the use of woods which were definitely not part of the Victorian chair-maker’s repertoire.
Price bands
Upholstered back, £200-250 each.
Standard plain, £30-70 each. Set of six, £320-550.
Rosewood, mid-Victorian –set of six, £650-900.
Carved, mid-Victorian – set of six, £800-1,000.
Rosewood-framed chairs are the most expensive, followed by walnut, then mahogany.

Victorian button-back chair

The relative austerity of Regency furniture and the soft clinging clothes worn by the ladies of the period were ousted during William IV’s reign by the new ‘Naturalistic’ line. Furniture became more curvaceous, seats of chairs wider to accommodate the increasing volume of ladies’ skirts and gentlemen’s frock coats, both of which were smartly nipped in at the waist.
Signs of authenticity
1. Solid ‘black’ Virginia walnut, rosewood or solid mahogany frame, carved and decorated.
2. Front arm supports and front legs in one continuous piece with decorative motif integral to the shape and design.
3. Deep, crisp carving with scrolling or floral and foliate motifs.
4. Original upholstery in worsted damask, cotton-andworsted, or silk-and-worsted, machine-woven, or in heavy velvet.
Floral, stripes and imitation tapestry or dark plain colours.
5. Deep buttoning to backs and inside arms, plain sprung seats until c.1890.
6. Backs curved in spoon shape to fit the body — buttoning to `waist’ of back only.
Likely restoration and repair
7. Back legs broken and
replaced. Replacements may be simple and slightly raked, looking well but less solidly balanced.
8. New upholstery — almost inevitable, but buttoning should not continue below the line of the ‘waist’ of the back.
9. Front legs and/or feet
repaired where broken or split. Change in patination is always on a diagonal line with repair and runs into the leg grain.
10. Original, bulbously turned legs, replaced with a ‘marriage’ of legs from another, similar chair. Line of front seat rail will carry through between arm and leg, whereas on genuine carved cabriole-type legs there is no break at seat level.
This hour-glass shape was echoed in seat furniture, and when Samuel Pratt took out a patent for sprung upholstery in 1828 it was in answer to a demand for even more comfortable chairs and sofas.
Even as late as the early Victorian period, it was considered strange for the centre of rooms to be cluttered with furniture except when in use, and seat furniture was always on castors so that it could be moved back into a tidy arrangement round the room when not in use. Once the rounded, curving lines of upholstered furniture began to be exploited, all kinds of central seat furniture made its appearance, notably the back-to-back sofa and the circular sofa, deeply sprung, tasselled and curving.
Arm chairs at first had sprung seats and button backs, developing from the lines of the Adam round-backed chair into one of the most familiar pieces. of Victorian furniture. Later, seats as well as backs were buttoned, and there were high-backed ‘grandmother’s chairs’, more dumpy, rotund `grandfather’s chairs’ and their counterparts without arms, as well as tub chairs, bedroom chairs, nursery chairs and parlour chairs, all made with carved mahogany, Virginia walnut or rosewood frames and beech underframes. Some of the most successful designs incorporate a cabriole-type leg with a scrolled `French foot’, far more elegant than the later, bulbously turned legs of mass-produced and provincial chairs.
Construction and materials
Early versions of Victorian upholstered chairs from c.1830-50 were usually open-armed, with small upholstered elbow pads and ornate curving scrolls to arms and back, with a solid Virginia walnut frame and a curved, plain seat back.
Underframes were of beech, ash or birch, and the construction was still similar to earlier armed chairs. From c.1850 the arms were filled and upholstered, and the backs, shaped with two low scrolls like a judge’s wig, had small decoratively carved features rising above the curved back frame. The back legs, until now plain and slightly raked, developed a bowed curve and there was often a decorative carved apron across the front seat rail below the upholstered sprung seat. At the same period low chairs with hourglass or balloon-shaped
Variations
Suites of drawing room balloon-back chairs with high backed ‘grandmother’s chairs’ with buttoned backs and open arms were made in great quantities, some of
upholstered backs were made without arms, their seats wide and generous, their curved cabrioletype legs set wider than the back legs. These were known as ‘ladies’ chairs’ and their high-backed, armed equivalents as `grandmother’s chairs’.
Detail
After the introduction of machine-carving around 1850, upholstered chairs of all shapes and sizes were made with less detail, shallow carving, and generally with turned front legs. Early upholstery tended to be unyielding because it was a mixture of linen waste and horsehair, but this was soon replaced with American cotton and wool waste mixed with horsehair, a combination that was much softer and more comfortable.
them very decorative, others of poorer quality, for they were mass-produced from inferior materials. As with much Victorian furniture, quality and craftsmanship distinguish between early, well-made and well-designed button back chairs and later versions. This type of chair continued to be made well into the early Edwardian period, although in the main it was relegated from drawing rooms and parlours to bedrooms and the servant’s upstairs quarters.
Right: a low button back, sometimes called a nursing chair.
Reproductions
The revival in popularity of Victorians in recent years has led to many furniture-manufacturers producing copies of the smaller tub chair with button back and low rounded seat. On the whole these look perfectly adequate, but fillings for upholstery are more often than not a polystyrene-type foam chip which goes flat and loses its spring after some use. In terms of value it is better to seek out one of the many varieties of original on the market than spend money on short-lived modern reproductions.
Price bands
Open-armed, well-carved, solid walnut frame and apron c.1850-70, £350-500.
Spoonback, no arms, cabriole-shaped legs, solid walnut carved frame, £400-550.
Curved back, integral upholstered arms, carved legs and frame. Rosewood more than walnut, £350-600.
Left: open-armed button back, c.1870.