Everyone talks about antique chair backs like they got it all figured out. ‘Oh, that’s a Hepplewhite shield!’ or ‘Classic Chippendale ribbon!’ Sounds easy, don’t it? Well, let me tell you, it ain’t always that simple. It really isn’t.
I got dragged into this whole mess ’cause of my Aunt Carol. She kicked the bucket a while back – bless her heart, she was a hoarder, but a nice one. Left me this old chair. Looked like it had seen a few things, you know? Proper old, I thought. My first reaction was, ‘Blimey, this could be something!’
So, I’m thinking, ‘Bingo! Antique Roadshow, here I come!’ The back was the funny part. Kinda swoopy on top, with this carved bit in the middle that looked like… well, I didn’t know what it looked like. That was the problem. It just sat there, staring at me, daring me to figure it out. I spent a good few hours just looking at it from different angles, trying to make sense of the shapes.
First stop, Google Images. I typed in ‘old chair weird back.’ What a joke. Honestly, a total waste of time. Got a million pictures, none of ’em quite matched. Every so-called ‘expert’ website had a different take. One said ‘Rococo influence,’ another said ‘nah, that’s late Victorian trying to be Rococo.’ My head was spinning. I was more confused than when I started, and that’s saying something.
I wasted so much damn time. I even went to these stuffy antique shops in town. One fella, all posh with a monocle and everything (okay, maybe not a monocle, but he acted like he had one), took a quick peek at my phone pic and said, ‘Reproduction, mate. Tenner for it?’ Cheeky bugger. Another one wanted a small fortune just to give an opinion. Like his words were made of solid gold. I walked out of there pretty disheartened, I can tell you.
Then, after weeks of this nonsense, I found this old forum online. You know, the kind that looks like it was made in 1998? Proper retro. But the folks there, they actually knew their stuff. Not just trying to sell you something or show off. They started talking about ‘splats’ and ‘crest rails’ and ‘stiles.’ Sounded like a foreign language at first. I had to look up half the words.
But I stuck with it. A splat, they explained, that’s the main panel in the middle of the back. Its shape is a dead giveaway, usually. Is it pierced through with a design? Solid wood? Shaped like a vase, or a lyre, or some fancy ribbon? Then there’s the crest rail – that’s the top bit of the back. Is it humped like a camel, got little ‘ears’ sticking out, or is it straight as a board? And the stiles, those are the side posts of the back, how do they meet the seat? Are they carved up, or plain Jane? Little details, see? But they all add up.
So, Aunt Carol’s chair? After all that palaver, and posting loads of pictures from every conceivable angle, turned out to be a pretty solid, but not lottery-winning, late 18th-century piece. A country-made thing, probably ash or elm. Not quite Queen Anne, not quite full-blown Chippendale, but something in between, with its own local quirks. I learned more about wood and shapes and joinery than I ever thought I would. Didn’t make me rich, but it was interesting.
It ain’t rocket science, identifying these chair backs, but it sure ain’t a walk in the park either. Forget those quick guides that promise to make you an expert in five minutes. You gotta really look. I mean, properly look. Get your hands on them if you can (carefully, mind you!). Touch the wood, feel the shapes, see how they’re put together. And the biggest thing I learned? Don’t just believe the first person who tells you what it is, especially if they’ve got that glint in their eye. Most times, they’re just trying to pull a fast one or they don’t know as much as they pretend.
