Assessing Antique Rocking Chairs

Assessing Antique Rocking Chairs

When you are looking for an antique rocking chair, the first thing you should out for is the quality of the wood that is used to make the chair. For a person like me who likes wooden furniture the type of wood used and the grain of the wood plays an important in my decision making.  Next will be the workmanship of the rocking chair, only a good craftsman is able to make a rocking chair that is both sturdy and looks good.

So what would I look out for when I assess a piece of antique rocking chair? As I mentioned earlier that I am particular about the type of wood used and the workmanship, these are the 3 criteria that I will use to assess an antique chair:

1. The kind of wood used to make the chair. A piece of good chair is normally made of solid wood like walnut, oak, cherry or cedar. And make sure that the whole chair is made from the same kind of wood.  Any mixture of woods used will make the chair less valuable, I wouldn’t pay a high piece for a chair that is made from a mixture of wood unless it is meant for decorative purpose.

2. The finishing of the chair. An antique rocking chair that is well maintained should not spot any cracks and the joints must be tight. Also look out for sign of any modern or fresh glue being used, this would mean that there may have been some defects that the seller is trying to hide from you. One other thing is the kind of finishing used – a well aged chair should present its natural wood lustre. I like wooden furniture in its natural form, thus I will normally look for one that is not treated with coloured paint.

3. Stability of the chair. Make sure that the chair is not fragile and wobbly, which can be common in an old chair that is not properly taken care of. A chair that is not stable will require a lot more work when you are refurbishing it and there are times where this cannot be rectified when the joints are badly damaged. One simple way that I would do to test the stability is to press on the seat and the arms, and the joint parts and wiggle to see if they are loose.

Having done the above, the next things that I will look at will be to determine the maker of the chair. Normally you can find the maker on the bottom of the chair. A chair made by a collectible rocking chair maker will definitely command a higher value, for example a chair that is made by Gustav Stickley would definitely fetch more than a factory made ones.

Then the last thing I will look at will be the design and style of the rocking chair. The rarer the style the more valuable they are. Some commonly styles are the American Windsor rockers, Jenny Lind Rocking chairs, Tennessee porch rockers and Adirondack chairs. The Adirondack chairs and some oak press back chairs are rarer than the rest and therefore are more valuable.

Finally, having said so much, the real value of an antique rocking is really in the eyes of the beholder, given that the condition of the chair, as mentioned earlier, is in proper order the rest will be up to you as to how much you like the chair.