Featured Beautiful old rocking chair

Early last fall, i inherited a rocking chair. It was in rough shape, but i just knew it was special, if only to me. I had admired it from a far for many years, as it sat in a corner at a dear old friend of mines house, too rickety to be sat in, but too beautiful for me not to admire. With the passing of his wife came the downsizing of his stuff. With it came the gifting of this old chair to me. A few tears and hugs later, it was in the basement of a friend who is a master craftsman. He immediately recognized the dried, thick black glue, and just knew it was old. He spent the next 5 months dissecting almost every single joint, replacing every dowel, and re gluing everything. He then took hardwood "toothpicks" and filled every single tack hole until everything under the cloth would be perfect, so every tack could go back where it needed to and not where the wood was solid enough to allow one. This was a labor of love for him, as he knew the sentimental value to me. After he was satisfied with the work, we took it to a local upholstery shop and antique dealer who specializes in this kind of work. He still has it currently, and i am anxiously awaiting his call to say it is done. I am starting this thread to document the transformation, as well as ask for help in identifying the kind of chair it is, besides "rocking chair" of course. There are no visible makers marks, as we had most of this chair in pieces at one point replacing the dowels and re gluing the joints . We also did nothing to the finish of the wood, other than 1.5 qts. of oil, to replenish the moisture content of the wood. This chair almost felt like it doubled in weight from when we started to now.

 

Hi Ryan! Welcome to Antiquers.

A heart warming story. Please let us see the finished product when you get it.

Enjoy it and the memories from which it came....from rickety to stable.

Enjoy the rock!!

 

Welcome to the forum, Ryan. Great story.
The furniture people will be along later.

 

Very nice. . it has a real presence to it, something rocker's do not always have. Also nice to see the labor of love applied to it's restoration. Looks 100 plus years old, but I also defer to a furniture pro as to design origin.

 

What a great story,and how lovely its being saved.Just a guess,but it looks like an Empire revival chair,1870s-1880s.

 

It is Empire revival but would put it a bit later. Think more likely very early 20th century. It is a variation on a tub chair.

 

Agree with verybrad on its lineage. I have a couple of its non-rocking cousins I use as desk chairs. Very comfortable.

 

Design has lots of integrity. You're sure to enjoy when all done.

Debora