Well....this has turned into a discussion of pain ted vs not painted furniture.....when the forum is about antiques. To me things that were not originally made to be painted and get painted looks like "early marriage" decorating on a shoe string and if it looks beat up...paint it! And this assumption affirmed by all who says a Duncan Phyfe looks "Fresh and young" painted.... It would be criminal to paint those chairs...And I really think a painted Duncan Phyfe style looks very "improvised" painted....like look....I couldn't afford new....so I painted this! A real wood finish, with a coat of good paste wax....or if you must refinish it a coat of oil based poly is pretty resistant to wet glasses and milk spills.

bobsmyuncle- Thank you! I'll check them out.

Helen, really thank you very much for your input. Helped a lot to research more. I am not expert either of course and I just try to gather information that many times is confusing. I will definitely do as you suggest to contact galleries and auction houses to see if they are interested in the objects. Now I am in the documentation/research phase. Oliviag, very correct your remarks. This is what I think as well. There is something Grecian/Neoclassical but the angels and gold colors make it more baroque/rococo. The Hollywood regency term is also very interesting. I will look on that. Bisque term is also something new to me. Thanks! Also thank you for the condolences. Much appreciated. Indeed she had a great influence to my life, her, as well as all the products that I used to observe when I was little and everything looked so huge, so strange in the dim, warm light she used to have at home. A kind of goldish warm feeling. I have very mixed feelings letting everything go but objects need to serve the right place in the right moment. And these objects did that very well. Life moves on. With a part of the money, I plan to buy a nice mechanical (60s like) watch to remember her. A kind of transformation.

I knew they were nice chairs!! Replacing the seat is easy! Remove the old cane....carefully diggign out the old spline without damaging the wood ( that's the hard part) then You buy the cane already woven... and a length of spline. Soak the cane in glycerin and water to soften and using wooden pegs, push it into the groove where the spline was....when all is tight....squirt some glue into the groove and lay in the spline, firming it up with a rubber mallet. Use an exacto knife to cut the ends of the spline to fit closely. I'll bet ther is a youtube video or two. Once you get the old cane out it's a 20 minute job to replace the cane.