Vintage furniture find

[turquoisedude]

I have a weakness for vintage furniture but most often the few pieces that do turn up in the Ogden area or the Sherbrooke thrift stores are in horrible condition.

Well, not this time!!

I found this chair at a garage sale in Stanstead last weekend. The folks holding the garage sale buy out entire houses and estates and at the end of the summer, they have a big garage sale to liquidate the things they don't want to store. I saw one of these chairs in their garage and I liked it but hemmed and hawed about it. Well, the deal got sweetened by the offer of a second, matching chair. So for the princely sum of $5 (no, that is not a typo) I got 'em both!

They are in really incredible shape. They are kinda musty-smelling, hence why they are on the front deck in Ogden. They probably need another couple of days worth of airing out, then it's into the parlor with them.

Added bonus - hubby actually LIKES them!!

Here's chair 1:

 

[turquoisedude]

Chair 2. I just had to have 'his & his' matching chairs.... LOL

 

[turquoisedude]

This is an unusual design - the back of the chair actually flexes as you sit down. I thought it might have been some kind of reclining mechanism, but this is not the case.

I am not sure of the age of these chairs - the folks who sold them to me said they were vintage 50s, but I think they are older than that. The style screams 'deco' to me - perhaps as old as the early 1940s.

 

[ovrphil]

Amazing deal. I agree - looks more like art deco - early 1940's...there were couches in that color at the end of the 40's and early 50's. Looks like a velour or brushed cotton. Nice find!

 

[retropia]

Those chairs are a simple, timeless design that would look nice in any decor. Do you think the upholstery fabric is original, or more recent? In the photos, it appears as if it could be a more-modern synthetic fabric than what you would find from the 1940s.

 

[turquoisedude]

I can't be 100% sure, but I believe this is the original upholstery. The texture and style is throwing me, too... I don't know what the exact composition of the fabric is either, but I have home décor books from the late 30s and early 40s that feature pieces with similar upholstery.

If only they could talk!!

 

[circlew]

The chairs look a lot like my dad's Uncle Fred and Aunt Hazel's sofa and chair set they got when they built their house in 1936. Theirs was covered in a cocoa brown mohair upholstery. Theirs had slightly more rounded arms and backs, but I've seen chairs with these exact lines in old movies from the 30's. On the other hand, they could be much newer, like from the 80's. If they are extremely heavy, I say their old, as Uncle Fred's weighed a ton. Maybe you can find a date on the bottoms.

 

[danemodsandy]

Those Are Almost Certainly '40s....

....And that could well be original upholstery; the workmanship is of very high quality. Look at the back of the arms, and how the welting is straight, not wavy at all. That "dusty rose" color is very '40s, and the design of the fabric is consistent with the period as well. It looks as if the fabric could be mohair plush, which would also be right for that era. Last, the squared bun feet are a signature '40s touch.

And - even if they were '80s repros, in cheap microfiber, they're still worth many times what you paid for them!

And whatever they are, they look great!

 

[twintubdexter]

I'd call that fabric "Gamma Ray"...very Flash Gordon.

 

[whirlcool]

Is the surface of this materials texture feel like a brush or a pipe cleaner? My parents had a green set that was like that in the late 40's. It was strange to sit on in shorts or without a shirt, but it lasted forever.

 

[polkanut]

Maybe give them a little spritz of Febreze while they're airing on the deck.