Bay Colony Antiques is proud to offer for sale this wonderful 19th century antique Mahogany side chair with floral inlays. We purchased this from a local Western Massachusetts home, and it was owned by the previous family for roughly 100 years. The gentleman we purchased this from informed us this was his mother’s chair who spent her early years in Western MA, but the majority of her adult life in Buffalo NY. One of the front legs is branded with the name “MRS JM Richmond”. Jewett M Richmond was a prominent Buffalo businessman, and this beautiful chair belonged to his wife, Geraldine. Geraldine’s family was from New York City where we believe the chair was made. We’ve handled very similar chairs by RJ Horner, but without a shop label it can be difficult to attribute a maker with 100% certainty because NYC was home to a large number of skilled cabinet makers who weren’t at all bashful to imitate or even flat out copy their local competitors designs.
The chair has a repeating rhombus inlay encompassing the crest and along the sides of the rear stiles. The chair is heavily inlaid with flower & vine motifs with a large Acanthus leaf inlay at the center of the crest. Overall, the chair is in great condition with our only notes being minor surface wear, a tiny bit of the rhombus inlay is missing on the left side, and there are some light stains on the fabric which we imagine our end would want to replace anyways. As we mentioned earlier, the chair remained in the same family over the last couple of generations. The previous owners had the chair professionally restored twice, once on the proper left front leg, and another on the proper left side of the crest. The restorations were well executed, and the chair is nice and sturdy. The chair measures 19” wide x 20 1/2” deep x 33 3/4” tall with an 18” seat height.
