Child's Slat Back Rocking Chair, ca. 1780
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GUEST:
A very dear friend of ours had passed away several years ago, and his wife decided that we would be the greatest recipients of the chair and take good care of it, so we received it. It should be right around 90 years old. He would be 90 in March. And I know it was his chair and it could have been his sister's, who was older, but I don't know that.
APPRAISER:
Well, it's actually quite a bit older than that.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh!
APPRAISER:
This is a chair that would date to the 1700s, probably the 1780s.
GUEST:
Oh, geez.
APPRAISER:
It was probably made in the mid-Atlantic region. We actually see lots of children's rockers and children's chairs on the Roadshow. Most of those are appraised at a pretty low value because they're very common. This chair is better than most of those.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
It's older, it's got a wonderful surface. It probably has two layers of paint. You can see some of the red that's peeking through underneath here. This is a very early red, probably the original paint, and then over that, it's probably a Victorian red that has alligatored-- the surface has deteriorated. But this is a surface that's very desirable to collectors. And also, the form of this chair is terrific. I'm going to just turn it sideways here so we can see it. It has these wonderful shaped rockers that are original-- it was always made as a rocker-- and the shape of these turnings is just fabulous, it's what collectors love. The seat is a replacement. This is a four-slat chair. Most of them have three slats. The fact that it has four slats makes it more interesting and more valuable to a collector. Now, this upper slat has been broken, but it happened a long time ago. That doesn't really impact the value. In this condition, I'm sure a collector would happily pay a retail price of about $1,500 for it.
GUEST:
Wow.
Appraisal Details
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