Dear Helaine and Joe: I have never seen a chair like this one. It looks like a normal Windsor, but it is made of metal, not wood. What is its history and what is it worth? — G.R.
Dear G.R.: Although metal furniture is most often associated with the modern office, its roots actually can be traced back to the 16th century and Thomas Rucker of Dresden, Germany. Rucker made his living as a maker of sword hilts and scientific instruments, but for the Emperor Rudolph he made a steel chair decorated with chiseled designs.
Later, steel furniture was made in Birmingham, England, and from there some of the English artisans went to Russia, where they made incredibly beautiful steel furnishings in the town of Tula, which was primarily a center for the manufacture of weapons. Many of these English-influenced steel pieces were made for Catherine the Great, and found a home in her palaces.
Eventually, machinery made this job easier, and during the late 19th and early 20th centuries both manufacturers and fashionable consumers were looking for original and avant-garde furniture designs that utilized nontraditional materials.
The chair in today's question is from the 1930s and what sets it apart is that it is an accurate re-creation of an early 19th century New England bow-back Windsor chair. It is correct right down to its slightly shaped saddle seat, its splayed or outwardly thrust bamboo-style turned leg and its turned medial or middle stretcher.
The authenticity of this chair extends to its faux early-19th-century-style red-and black rosewood-painted decoration and yellow accenting at the seat. Insurance replacement value for this surprisingly convincing metal reproduction of a normally wooden Windsor chair is $1,500.
If it were an actual wooden Windsor from the early 19th century, its value would be at least five times that.
Helaine Fendelman is feature editor at Country Living magazine and Joe Rosson writes about antiques at The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee. Questions can by mailed to them at P.O. Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.