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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: architectonik on November 18, 2015, 09:13:15 PM
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Hey Everyone,
Need some insight and information of this unique doweled chair.
Sticker underneath seat I believe reads "I.H. Wisler and Sons"
from Philadelphia
Is it worth anything? ::)
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/atq/5262872124.html
Thank you in advance
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According to an ad they had in The Official Programme of the Framing Of The Constitution of the United States, Sept 15 - 16 - 17, 1887, they tout that they "have" over 648 styles of chairs! In the article below they have over 1,000 chairs. BUT I am not sure that they actually made it. From all the information I find on them they sold them but didn't have a manufacturing company listed.
Am I seeing correctly that it has a wire tension built into it?
History of the Company
https://books.google.com/books?id=cggUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA623&lpg=PA623&dq=I+H+Wisler+%26+Sons,+philadelphia&source=bl&ots=MzugL86uak&sig=HAnt_dCFTNpVrReNaPYLxomGRpc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAGoVChMIo7SN496byQIVTEUmCh2yMQ0L#v=onepage&q=I%20H%20Wisler%20%26%20Sons%2C%20philadelphia&f=false (https://books.google.com/books?id=cggUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA623&lpg=PA623&dq=I+H+Wisler+%26+Sons,+philadelphia&source=bl&ots=MzugL86uak&sig=HAnt_dCFTNpVrReNaPYLxomGRpc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAGoVChMIo7SN496byQIVTEUmCh2yMQ0L#v=onepage&q=I%20H%20Wisler%20%26%20Sons%2C%20philadelphia&f=false)
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Thank you KC, I will have to check out that link later this morning and yes that is a wire tension built into it. It's part of why I find this chair so unique but want to get some info on it from you all and gauge how "unique" it really is. 8)
I will attach a link to some more photos via craigslist.
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http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/atq/5262872124.html
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It would be worth more than $1.00 if you stripped the paint off and refinished the wood, which looks nice on the underside of the seat. I still don't see that it would be worth much more than $20-$30 though.
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If that was local to me I would probably get it just because it is a unique conversation piece! Especially for $1!
It looks as if there are 2 holes either side of the wire on the top of the chair. Wonder if the wire ever ran through those and over time got moved to the position it is in?! Odd that the wire would be where a back would rub it. Just an observation.
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Thank you all
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I think that wire support may be original to the chair,,although I do not see why it would have been placed there !! Someone had another Wisler chair with a similar addition !! I think it was on "justanswer or one of the other sites !! The expert said it was added later but the similarities were so close that I am not so sure about that !! Haven`t had time to research further !! Lets let Jacon4 take a look at this one !! He may have heard of Wisler and can give some insight !!
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It would be worth more than $1.00 if you stripped the paint off and refinished the wood, which looks nice on the underside of the seat. I still don't see that it would be worth much more than $20-$30 though.
ghopper;
It's apparent from the link below that neither I nor you realize what others value their old chairs at! :o ;)
http://www.86vintage.com/products/antique-primitive-spindle-back-chair (http://www.86vintage.com/products/antique-primitive-spindle-back-chair)
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I'm speechless.... ;)
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Yeah, what ghopper said!
1930's american "invention" , wire tension device meant to strengthen the chair, obviously not a big hit in the market place, either then or now.
http://www.google.com/patents/US1752545
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/191739959711?item=191739959711&vectorid=229466&rmvSB=true
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Me thinks that wire was added by the owner to keep the spindles and back-brace from coming out of the seat.
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just had a thought that is HILARIOUS! hubby buys a couple of these things because he's impressed with the design & strength of these chairs, drags them home where the ol woman points to the door and says OUT!!!! ANYWHERE BUT MY PARLOR! and they wind up in the garage or barn, never to be heard of again, until now!
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Good digging, Jacon! Karma for you!!
Actually, that story of yours sounds all-too plausible. :)
I do think the chairs look better "a natural."
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Yep...great digging for patent information.
As for the chair selling for big bucks... (note: speechless in my typing!)
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actually, not really great digging, took all of about 30 seconds. I just googled windsor with wire supports or some such and BAM! there it was.
I liked my story of hubby being ordered outa the house with one of these guys because it really seems like that was a very real possibility! still chuckling over it
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I could see my grandmother doing that with my granddaddy. In fact, when they passed we got lots of furniture out of the barn!
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lol, dead funny. On a more serious note, furniture has been marketed for strength in the past, John Henry Belter, a rather famous furniture maker during victorian era reportedly threw some of his chairs out a second or third story window of his showroom to prove how strong they were. He was building furniture with a laminated/plywood type construction and wanted to show how strong it was i guess.
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So I was not to far off the wall ?? It was part of the original construction ??
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yep, original 1930-1940s construction. It was an idea whose time never came kinda thing.
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???
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These holes are what I questioned in a reply above cogar. Thanks for blowing that up!
Wonder if the wire was put through this a one point (are the holes all the way through?) or were there nails/screws to hold the wire at one point?
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KC, .... my opinion is, .... there is no logical reason for the “chairmaker” to put that “tension” wire on the back of that chair. Therefore I have to assume it was installed by an “owner” of the chair and was probably (crudely) “replaced” one or more times.
If it had been installed by the “chairmaker” then me thinks it would have been a “solid” wire (not stranded) and it would have been affixed to the underside of the “back” brace or via “holes” up through to the topside of the “back” brace
And secondly, given the “wear” pattern on the backside of the “back” brace me thinks the “owner” had a habit of ….. “leaning” back on it …. on its back 2 legs … with the backside of the “back” brace against a wall …… which would have put extreme “stress” on the spindle joints in the seat causing them to “pull apart” ….. and thus the reason for the added “tension” wire.
Similar “stress” is why “tension” wires are installed between the legs of a chair ... because of people's habit of "scooting" across the floor while seated in them.
Chairs that were made with a “ball” end on the ends of the spindles did not require a “tension” wire.