BUT....it's also a chair..... And while it might not have the salability as an antique one may wish....it's still a usable piece of furniture. You could sell that chair for just what you paid....but then you will have to go buy something to take it's place. Antiques that serve a purpose are different to me than those things you buy and stick in a cupboard in hopes that they will appreciate in value....or worse yet....collecters items. I have a round oak table....bought a long long time ago, before the golden oak boom....so I got a huge bargain. They the bottom dropped out of the golden oak market, and not many years later that table is now worth about 10 times what I paid. If I had invested the money I paid some 45 years ago....likely I would have had more than I could sell that table for....BUT....all these years I have had a table for eating, for homework for projects.......and it's still worth about 10 times what I paid. Linda C

From what little I can see (could we have a picture of the whole chair), it seems your grandfather is correct -- 1860-1870, Eastlake influence, possibly walnut. Is it a platform rocker?

Whew...I'm stumped. But here's my guess for what it's worth. The chair seems to be a composite of several styles. The stiles, back splat, front legs, and side rail all appear to be of a eccletic styling. The wood also appears to be mixed. The side rails have the coloration, sheen, & patina of maple but the remainder of the chair looks like oak. Overall though, the chair has a blocky nature to it that wasn't seen much before the 1880's. Do you happen to know the provenance of the chair? Is it possible your great-grandparents received this chair from a woodworker? I think it could be a one-of-a-kind handmade piece. For sure, it's a sturdy chair and has many years of comfortable rocking left in it. Very worthy of re-upholstering, IMO. I'd date the chair to the 1920's...the mixed styling makes it difficult but I'm basing my opinion on the most recent style I see present in the chair which is the blocky presence indicating a Mission Oak influence. Try looking at some of Gustav Stickley's pieces for overall footprint & styling and see if you see a resemblance? This chair is not a Stickley, I'm certain but you will be able to see the influence. The current fabric is somewhat troublesome in that it would normally indicate a late 1890's time frame BUT since you noted the chair had been reupholstered at least once...the fabric is representing a personal choice rather than being necessarily typical of it's era. Linda, please pitch in here and help...does it seem eccletic to you also?

I can tell you ALMOST for sure without seeing any more of those chairs that they are cheap repros and not worth nearly 1700 USD ..Sorry I have translate pounds to dollars before I can relate. A similar pair should cost maybe $350....a real antique pair might cost around $4000 to $5000. These chairs are too heavy, with overblown decoration even for Louis XV, appear to be painted with "glossy gold" and the fabric looks to be a printed pattern imitating needlepoint. My advice is don't buy them....and further advice, as you say you are new to "aged furniture" do some home work before you venture to buy something from a picture.....unless of course you are a dealer trying to drum up business on this site. The mirror looks to have a better chance of being a real antique, but the chair reflected in the image in another cheap repro. If it is from the same dealer I would be wary of that too.....and at nearly $1000 for a not too big and not terribly old mirror, again I would leave it there for another sucker to buy