There are many specialist books that should be consulted for an in depth knowledge of this subject. What follows is a Rule of Thumb Dating GuideDining chairs, hall chairs, spinning chairs, garden chairs, children’s chairs, rockers, miniature and a variety of stools. Antique chairs often look like the people who first used them.
Stretchers
The Evolution of the Stretcher is an important factor when studying the evolution of the chair. For obvious reasons, no early chairs were made without the stretcher across the front, a good sound serviceable piece of British oak to stand rough wear and tear. Gradually, keeping time with the march of comfort, the front stretcher begins to leave its old position near the floor, and in later examples it is half-way up the front legs. It still had a use, and a very important one: it added considerable strength and solidity to the chair, and is nearly always found in chairs intended for use. There are only few examples of chairs without the front stretcher, and later it took another form. It united the two side stretchers, and crossed the chair underneath in the centre at right angles to the side stretchers. Its purpose in adding stability to this class of furniture was evidently never lost sight of.
At first strictly utilitarian, the stretcher was a solid foot-rest; later, when partly utilitarian in adding to the strength, it became suitable for ornamentation, Although in the class of furniture here under review such ornament never took an elaborate form, there are examples slightly differing in character from chairs intended for the use of the wealthier classes, and these are evidently a local effort to keep in touch with prevailing taste.
Finely turned stretchers, such as are found in gate tables, are a feature of a certain class of local chairs. This kind of chair without arms is rather more decorated and conforms more to the styles of furniture made for higher spheres than the farmhouse.
Age
Age is no criteria of value, and the fact that a chair is 300 years old does not necessarily mean that it is worth a great deal of money.
The simplest 1600's chairs are known as back stools i.e. a stool with a back. They are made in the same way as the stool with a mortise and tenon joint. This type of construction has no glue, each joint secured by willow pegs, driven through.
1600's
The legs joined together by stretchers in an H shape approx. 2/3rds of the way down. On better chairs a front rail was added, usually shaped and curved. Until late 1600´s oak was the primary wood.
1603-1625 Jacobean
The 1600’s offers a wide field of selection, and many examples exist which undoubtedly were in use in farmhouses at that period. Cushions had no place in the effects of the farmhouse in early days, although ropes were sometimes used to support cushions. But as a general rule the wooden seats show tangible signs of rough usage of centuries, and the stretcher has its worn surface marked by generations of owners who found it protective against the cold flagged or rush-strewn floor and the draughts in days prior to carpets and rugs.
1649-1660 Cromwellian
These chairs are austere
1660-1685 Charles II
These chairs are fussy with lots of frills and fringes
1688-1694 William & Mary
A carved X was an alternative form of stretchers
1690's Oak was superceeded by Walnut
Early 1700's
Wing chairs were introduced to shield the sitter from the draughs which were so common in British homes.
1702-1714 Queen Anne
Calm before the storm. Good middle class furniture had a graceful dependable quality. The backs and arm supports were curvilinear and the legs had prominent knees which graduated down to an inswept ankle to terminate in a ball and claw foot or pad foot. The leg we call cabriole.
1730's
Most good fashionable chairs had no side or centre stretchers at all.
1750's
The stretchers returned with the straight legged chairs and remained popular thereafter.
1750's Chippendale
Three basic types of seat;
i) a solid wooden seat with a cushion
ii) a drop in upholstered seat
iii) an overstuffed seat where the material covers the seal rails all the way round
1750's
Walnut was replaced by mahogany
1770's Robert Adams
1780's Hepplewhite & Sheriton
The last 20 years are labelled Hepplewhite and Sheraton in that order
1790's
Delicate shield back chair – elegant dandy
1790's Era saw a range of exotic timbers such as rosewood and satinwood.
End 1700's
Turned legs and sabre legs were popular for dining chairs and by 1810 they had virtually taken over from the square, tapered variety. The mark of a good sabre leg is that the toe will protrude in front of the seat rail, indicating quality of design and manufacture. A poor sabre leg has a less generous curve which shows greater concern for economy in that it required less timber. The sabre leg changed little during the next 30 years but the turned leg got heavier as the period progressed.
1800's
Stretchers were an integral part of the Windsor chair and variations in their stretcher can affect the value. A Windsor chair with a bowed or crinoline stretcher is more desirable than one with a plain H pattern. If all the stretchers and legs are in yew wood to match the back the chair is worth several hundred pounds more.
Early 1800's
Many chairs were decorated with simulated rope or cable backs, anchors and other marine subjects – a reference to the importance of the Navy
1811 to 1820 Regency
The younger generation of aristocrats rebelled against the refined, accepted designs and patronised bolder and more aggressive designs.
1820's
Shows bulkier outlines with Oak and Walnut returned to favour.
1830's
Coiled springs were being produced in quantity for chairs, settees and bedding. It was from this period that the fully sprung seat became popular.
Mid 1800's
English squire look
1837-1901 Victorian
The chair took on the appearance of an elderly aunt – delightful, interesting, reliable, but rarely elegant. Oak, walnut, mahogany, rosewood, all the fruitwoods, beach, birch and many others were utilised. The curvilinear salon or parlour chair which developed during the 1860´s into the balloon back was the last great innovation of the period. The best chairs were made of rosewood, mahogany or walnut