Dear Helaine and Joe: I used this high chair as a young child in the latter part of the 1940s. It converts from a high chair to a table and chair. Does this piece have more than sentimental value? Thank you. — D.R., Muscatine, Iowa
Dear D.R.: Many collectors eagerly seek all kind of items that have to do with childhood. This fascination runs the gamut from children's books and toys to the furniture that tiny tots either used themselves or played with.
There is a great interest in miniature furniture from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, and high chairs and diminutive chairs designed for the exclusive use of a particular child can be quite valuable. The piece in today's question, however, is a bit recent, and the major factor in its favor is that it is a clever novelty item that was designed to serve several functions and be something of a labor-saving device for mommy.
Convertible furniture became popular in the middle years of the 19th century with the burgeoning of the machine age in America and the clumping together of more and more people into smaller and smaller spaces. Apartments and city bungalows often had very limited space for the extended families that lived in them. It was convenient, therefore, for a desk to convert into a bed allowing someone to spend the night comfortably in the living room or for a cabinet to transform into a dinner table, which allowed a family to sit down to dinner together in the same cramped living room.
Although most of the early convertible furniture had to do with the efficient use of space, the high chair belonging to D.R. was more about creating a convenient facility for a young child to spend the day so that a mother could tend to him or her without his or her things being scattered throughout the house.
The high chair was perfect for feeding, and while it was in use for this purpose, there was a shelf underneath where toys and other baby related items could be stored.
After the baby had been fed, the high chair could be split in half and the tot placed in the now low chair and the toys previously stored underneath could be placed on the table surface for playtime. This whole contraption was easily movable because the whole assembly was on wheels., and if mommy needed to work in another room, she could just wheel baby wherever she (the mother) needed to go.
Unfortunately, collectors prefer children's furniture to have a little pizazz or a bit of style, and this unit is rather utilitarian and even a tad on the austere side. On items of this vintage, enthusiasts like to see charming decals that feature cartoon or nursery rhyme characters, and the piece belonging to D.R. is completely lacking in any kind of decoration or flourish that would relieve the severe lines and plain wood.
In addition, current parents might be a little afraid to use this convertible high chair because it looks like baby's head could get caught in the arms, and the whole gadget appears to be an accident waiting to happen. In any event, the time for this piece to have a significant monetary value as an antique has not yet come, and its current status as a collectible is doubtful because it is not particularly decorative, and its reason for being as a useful object is somewhat in question.
Still, all is not lost, and this high chair's insurance replacement value right now is in the $125 to $150 range, but that should go up after another generation or two.
Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of the "Price It Yourself" (HarperResource, $19.95). Questions can by mailed to them at P.O. Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.