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Question
I purchased a dining set from my great aunt in the early 1908's. It consists of a table with drop leafs and two leaf inserts; 5 side chairs and one dining chair with arms. There is an inspection tag stapled to the bottom of one of the side chairs which identifies the manufacturer as Thomasville Chair Company, Thomasville, NC. The seats of the chairs were covered in a satin type deep merlot and antique white striped fabric. The fabric was in good shape until I retrieved the chairs from storage. The fabric had dry rotted. I removed the fabric and recovered the seats in a tapestry pattern. During our last move the stay rail was damaged on one of the chairs. I am not sure if the chairs are worth anything other than utilitarian value. I currently live in Northern Virginia and need assistance in determining how far I should go in having this chair repaired. Secondly, would it be worth the effort to locate fabric like the original or is that just personal choice at this point>
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Hi Jennifer
Nice to hear from you.
First off I like your fabric choice for the chairs..it works, and it looks like you have worked with patterned fabric before as you got the pattern right too.
I don't feel its worth the effort to try to replace the old fabric. You may never find it and the cost is very high for reproduction vintage fabrics.
And what you have done does not need redoing again.
Jennifer as long as you have all the pieces from the broken chair it can be fixed. Although you don't say exactly what type of damage the chair had, this should not be a big cost at all.
These are lovely chairs and I suspect they were made in the late 40's, but most definitely before 1960.
Certainly worth getting fixed.
Kindest Regards
Eileen
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| Rating(1-10) | Knowledgeability = 9 | Clarity of Response = 10 | Politeness = 10 |
| Comment | Thank-you for the timely response. The lower cross piece on the chair back (I believe it is called a stay rail?) was broken out. I really like the chairs too. | ||
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Expertise
I can answer most questions about the repairing and refinishing of all your old furniture items (the things we call antiques). I can also give you advice on what wood items to choose and what wood items to avoid at auctions, flea markets etc. I DO NOT give appraisals on antiques as this is not my field of expertise.
Experience
I have been repairing, refinishing and of course buying old furniture for the past 30 years. On any given weekend I can be found at auction sales or flea markets searching out a good buy. I have taken several courses in this area over the years, but I find "Hands On" learning to be the best teacher. I can help you avoid the pitfalls and problems of this wonderful rewarding craft.
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