Southern Ladderback Chair, ca. 1795
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GUEST:
I inherited it from my grandmother, who got it from her father. It's a South Carolina chair, and it was given to my great-grandfather by General Wade Hampton after the Civil War. My great-grandfather didn't fight in the Civil War, but was part of a group of young men who survived and who carried on a lot of the traditions of South Carolina.
APPRAISER:
Let me give you a little background on ladderback chairs, which is what this is. Ladderback gets its name from these rungs that connect to the stile resembling a ladder. Ladderback chairs were made for centuries, beginning in the 18th century, through the 19th century, and up to the 20th century, and they were made everywhere. Your typical ladderback chair does not bring much money on the marketplace, and there are lots of them. We see many at the ROADSHOW. And to be honest with you, they are a challenge to get $100 for.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But I wouldn't have taken this chair up if I didn't think it was a little bit different than your typical chair. It has a little bit of grace to it and design elements to it that we don't see in your typical chair. The way that these arms align, the way that they're spread out, the way that our seat expands, the way that our legs taper. What makes it particularly interesting, though, is the woods that were used, which supports your theory. This front leg appears to be cypress, and I say "appears to," we believe it is cypress. My colleagues and I have all looked at it and believe that. But in order to be truly accurate, we need a wood ID to confirm that. That makes it Southern.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So while these chairs were made in lots of places, no place collects and loves their heritage more than the South.
GUEST:
That's true.
APPRAISER:
And they love a simple, elegant, traditional chair. This one happens to be a splint seat, but they also came with rush seats as well as rawhide seats. What's impressive to me about the chair is that it survives in this original state. We all believe that this is probably 18th century, late 18th century. It might be 19th century, but a very old chair. This may have been a higher arch here that's been worn down. There's a chance that these have been modified to a degree. They may have expanded a little bit. I don't think that affects the value one way or the other. For insurance value, and this would be a hard chair to replace, I'd put a value of $3,000.
GUEST:
Wow! Didn't see that! That's really neat.
Appraisal Details
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