Judy
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts November 9, 20180 found this helpful
Who manufactured these chairs? Will you reduce the value of you re-upholster them? You need to find this out. Assuming they are not valuable, if the frame is solid and you like them, it is probably a good investment to reupholster them
November 10, 20180 found this helpful
After creating this post , I looked at the chairs a little closer.
I believe they are Kimball Victorian mahogany, mid 20th sentry.
November 17, 20220 found this helpful
I agree. My mother bought a pair like these. It was in the 1950s.
Pghgirl40
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 196 Feedbacks November 9, 20180 found this helpful
I believe these Kimball Victorian chairs or a nice reproduction.
www.ebay.com/.../292709669580?hash=item4426db1acc...
They are quite valuable as you can see this one sold for a very tidy sum!!
If they are the real thing, they are quite valuable, at least where I am, and I would not recommend reupholstering them if you are thinking about selling them in the future.
If they were mibe, I would take the chairs or good photos to a reputable antique dealer and have them confirm what they are and if it is better to keep them intact.
Post back what you learn! They are quite lovely!!!
November 10, 20180 found this helpful
Yes thank you! I started looking a little closer at them, after I made this post.
I believe you are correct. The word Victorian is imprinted on the back left leg of each.
Pghgirl40
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 196 Feedbacks November 10, 20180 found this helpful
You have an amazing set of chairs! If you are going to love them and don't care about resell value, enjoy and get them done. If you care about value, leave them be and maybe consider a lovely throw to get them to your aesthetic need until you decide to sell.
There are no rules here. Just facts for you to have good info and make decisions that meet your needs!
November 10, 20180 found this helpful
I believe you have a pair of Kimball lady and gentleman's Victorian parlor chairs. Your lady's chair is the most unusual.
This style is also sometimes listed under other styles; such as Hollywood Regency.
You should look on the bottom of your chairs as they hopefully will have some paperwork stapled on the seat or wood bottom.
I feel sure these are genuine (but they could be reproductions made by Kimballs's in the 1970's) as usually the "fake" ones are in styles that would sell for a lot more money as most likely these are from the 1950-60's but are still usually selling for a nice chunk of money.
- Generally these will sell for more money when offered by high end antique stores (even these stores sell on eBay). One reason items like this sell for more money when offered by dealers is because people many times feel they can rely on the dealers knowledge of the style/type of piece offered.
- Another reason is because many feel the dealers will know how to ship the item safely (unless it is pick-up only).
- Most small sellers will have to list as "pick up only" and this limits their marketing area to a "Craigslist" field. Not that this is really bad but it does narrow the market field and many times the value. Take a look at this listing and you will see the difference in a "professional" listing compared to the ordinary seller.
- www.ebay.com/.../223177348207?_trkparms=aid%3D222007...
- If you do any research for your chairs you will find there is a wide difference in the styles - number of tuffs in the back / front seat style / arm styles / wood designs / (most leg styles are the same) / material / condition.
- www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-ab&tbm...
- This just means that valuing your chairs will have to be done mostly by your research and by personal sight of your chairs. It is very difficult to tell the condition of furniture from most regular pictures.
- If you plan to sell your chairs anytime in the future then you definitely should not have them redone as this would lower the value. It would not matter if they were redone in the same type of material or how good a job - it would reduce the chair's value considerably.
- I'm not sure if you wish to change the overall look but you cannot change the Victorian look so it may just be a new color/condition you are after so that would be a personal choice.
- You can always check out the chairs that are listed for sale on eBay (ignore asking prices and only use sold prices for truer value) but you can place a watch on similar chairs to see if they sell. These items change daily/weekly so you may have to check frequently if you are interested in the selling prices of similar chairs.
- www.ebay.com/.../i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313...
- There will always be a difference in asking and sold prices mainly because many sellers do not know the true value of their pieces or they just want a quick sale or the area they live in is not conducive to this type of furniture (most areas will not be into this style of furniture).
I recently received a quote to reupholster some chairs and was curious as to whether or not it was worth the investment?
