Ladderback chairs worth keeping?

13 years ago

I bought these chairs off of Craigslist about a year ago and find that I have no room for them in my house. They are not oak, and are lightweight. The rush seats are in good condition but they look rather old. All joints are tenoned (sp?). There are no nails in these chairs.

Can anyone give me an idea of how much these might be worth, or how to find out? I was thinking of selling them on CL again, but I don't want to give them away cheap if there is a chance they're worth more. I only paid $45 for the set of four.

Thanks for any advice!
{{gwi:1383425}}From ladderback chairs

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Comments (9)

lindac
13 years ago
I think they are worth easily what you paid....they are very very nice....chairs like that wouldn't have been oak...maybe maple or even pine but for the rungs?
Worth easily what you paid....$25 per chair would be about right I think....
They are really very nice...I hope the ones you are replacing them with are at least aas nice.
Linda C
sweeby
13 years ago
Don't suppose you're in Texas Dawn?...

I agree with Linda about the niceness of the chairs and the Craigslist price point.
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It helps to go to the horse's mouth to get an idea of things like what a chair was purposed for when it was built. I ask about seat height because it's a number typically listed in late 19th and early 20th century catalogues. One will notice that kitchen chairs, sewing chairs, dressing chairs, occasional chairs and dining chairs tended to have different seat heights, and some chairs were built specifically for adolescents and older children. Since it was obvious one chair didn't match, and the seats were so short to the floor, I wanted to know if the seat heights were constant. The fact that they are and that they're too short to be for dining use speaks to the probability they were all cut off to match a common seat height. Of course one or more chairs might have had a worn leg, but these were all modified at one time, and painted at one time to look like a matched set. Nobody claimed that the person who did it did it well. Defining whether one or all was meant to be a dining chair would be worth knowing and most of them did have a pretty constant seat height in that time frame because they had to be used with a dining table. Just going around measuring seat heights of random ladderbacks doesn't speak to what I was getting at. My ladderbacks have very tall seat heights, but I know what they are and where they came from. The were used in pool halls in the late 1800s and have been in the family since the turn of the century. The finial style and the type wood used, would help date these more closely. They are consistent with late 1800s, especially the one with the finials. I have found nearly exact duplicates of this style in that era. However, ladderbacks have such a long history they have been made right along. Take this one for instance. Looks pretty old, but is a pine repro from the early 1960. Saying we can tell you when these were in vogue, but given what you have shared....and with no real defining details, that's about all we can tell you other than surmising history.
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Thank you for the link linley! I saw the chair in person while traveling, and it was very wide, came up high behind the head, and was very comfortable. I also thought it was interesting looking in person, and I normally do not like wing back chairs. I did see the Calico Corner version but it is a bit short behind the head for being "the" chair for reading a great book and wanting to be really comforable. I also thought it was a chair that would be easy to move about as my reading nook cannot see the TV, and if we had guests over watching a movie, I could slide it over and it would be a really comfortable chair for watching a movie as well. I am slowly putting the house together, piece by piece. It still has a ways to go, but like so many others, I want it to be somewhat put together for the holidays. But I am not as stressed/nor overwhelmed as I was. I am beginning to see the effect of layering. That when each piece goes in, I hyperfocus on "that" piece...is it right, if I looked more, could I find something "better". I am now seeing as lighting, art, fabric etc. goes in, you do not focus on that one piece, but on the room as a whole. I still wish I could find the perfect antique piece when I want it, and not have to settle to fill/finish a room with a reproduction piece, simply because I am not willing to invest years in trying to locate "the"piece. Thank you again for the link. P.S. Do you think the chair is unattractive? You can be honest. It is outrageously priced, and I could easily move on and choose something reasonable.
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Wonderful chairs! If you haven't done upholstery before, I think these are not the place to start. A big part of their charm is the curves - top, bottom and sides - and you can see that there is seaming in several places that needs to be pretty much perfect. Even as nicely done as these are, you can see that there are some lumps across the front edge, and that the check pattern is pulled askew across the front and seat. And I second the comment that button tufting and double welting are not the simplest thing to do. You would be soooo unhappy if the result looked amateurish, not to mention the waste of fabric. As to fabric choice, I'd consider something essentially solid, but with some texture, because there's so much texture in your sofa fabric (which looks very nice with Miss Sophie on it...). Take a look at this idea from FabricGuru's inventory, and think about the possibility of picking out the lines by using welting in the deep plummy color. Here is a link that might be useful: Upholstery fabric idea
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I bought these from someone who bought them from an antique store. Now I need to sell them but I have no idea what they're worth. There are no identifying marks indicating any manufacturer. The set includes 4 dining chairs and 2 more with arms. The rush seating needs to be replaced on 3 of them. Also wondering how much that costs and if it would be worth it to have that done before I try to sell them. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!
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dawn25
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks, Linda C and sweeby! I may not sell them after all. I'm not sure where to put them, though... They are not really very good dining chairs because they're uncomfortable to sit in. I think we may be bigger than the people who originally owned these. LOL! They are also too wide across the front (by about 1/2 inch...ugh) to fit underneath my antique vanity and desks, or I'd use them there. I'm just not sure what to do with them, but I'd be sad to see them go just because they're beautiful and they have history to them.

sweeby, I'm in Arizona. I used to live in Texas, but I don't suppose that helps you :D. Planning any trips? I'd love to give them to someone who could use them in their home in some way. My house just isn't big enough to have extra chairs scattered lightly about. Sigh.
lindac
13 years ago
My parents used to have similar chairs. They put tie on cushions on them....and for a lot of years after leaving home I would sort of turn sideways when talking to my DH at the table and toss my arm over that post on the back....but that poas wasn't there! LOL!
With a seatcushion, those chairs are comfortable to me.
Fori
13 years ago
They are nice, although I don't know anything. I was thinking how those corner posts would hurt if you sat wrong, but a cushion would take care of that!
sunnyca_gw
13 years ago
I have 1 very similar with a cherry finish. I was going to see about replacing the seat & found newspapers from early 1930's in the seat.Can't remember what town but think Davenport, Iowa.So imagine newspapers were used inside a lot of chairs with rush seats!! Yours are very nice & look great with the other wood in your house.
sweeby
13 years ago
We also have seat cushions on ours (very similar to yours), and they're comfortable enough.
I saw some nice cushions at HomeGoods and Tuesday Morning if you're so inclined...
mama goose_gw zn6OH
13 years ago
Hi, dawn25,

You're so lucky to have a set of four chairs. I don't have any experience identifying or pricing antiques, but I have a similar rush-seat ladderback marked Stickley. Have you checked the inside back legs for maker's marks? HTH

Here's a pic of the chair:

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1383423}}
sunnyca_gw
13 years ago
Wow, didn't think to look on back of chair leg, I think mine is identical to mamagoose. It has 3 pieces on the back & bottom rungs are like those.I'll have to look.

Ladderback chairs worth keeping?

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lindac

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Ladderback chairs worth keeping?

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