Driscolls Antiques – Antique Furniture Blog

Where were antique Oak Settles used?

Today a good antique oak settle would be used in many areas like your hall way or even in a kitchen but originally they were used for seating and were often used in taverns and in country pubs. Very often you can still see these very nice antique settles in pubs today and most will have been there for many years. Driscolls Antiques get very good quality examples of antique oak settles still in very good condition and from early periods such as the Georgian period. As many of these settles are over 200 years old imagine how many people will have sat on these benches and over the years but what is also amazing is how they are still in solid usable condition. They usually have a cushioned seat or slatted oak boards and stand on a cariole leg with a raised back. You can sometimes see examples with curved backs. As these pieces are very early in date they usually have pegged construction and lots of beautiful character from years of use. If you are interested in purchasing a good quality antique settle we have just acquired one from the Georgian Dating from around 1760. It is constructed from oak and is full of character. It is of pegged construction, has a raised back with shaped moulded panels along with shaped arms. It has cabriole front legs and an upholstered squab seat, it would be a stunning piece to add to your antique furniture collection. See our website for more details.

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Fine upholstered antique furniture

Driscolls antiques always have very nice fine upholstered antique furniture for sale and this week we have for sale some very nice examples.

We have two small but very useful antique Victorian walnut antique chairs with carved backs, shaped arms and turned legs. Ideal for your living room as a small spare set of chairs when guests arrive.

We have a Victorian antique mahogany upholstered antique armchair with a shaped back and shaped arms. It stands on splayed back legs and beautifully turned front legs with porcelain castors.

We also have a Victorian spoon back antique armchair with button back and scrolled arms. The antique armchair stands on beautifully turned front legs with porcelain castors.

Finally this week we have the most stunning Victorian mahogany upholstered arm chair with a scrolled back, carved sides and turned front legs with porcelain castors.

This is such a nice antique chair and would be suitable for any room from your bedroom as a nursing chair to your living room

These are all very nice pieces of fine upholstered antique furniture and we always have a good selection of other pieces of antique furniture so please always keep checking our website for details as we update it on a daily basis. Our antique furniture is the best quality and would suit any home.

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Some reproduction furniture is antique furniture.

Very often in the Victorian and Edwardian periods older styles of antique furniture designs were copied and re produced. They were classed as reproduction furniture but this was over 100 years ago so now are classed as antique.

The Victorian and Edwardian cabinet makers liked to use the earlier designs but now they had the use of machines and better tools so pieces of furniture could be made much faster and so you see more pieces from these periods.

In the late Victorian and Edwardian period there was still very good timber that the cabinet makers would use so extremely good quality pieces of furniture was still being produced.

A prime example of a superb Victorian copy of a Georgian design is the set of 8 Victorian mahogany antique dining chairs in the Chippendale design. They have shaped moulded backs with pierced back splats and stand on tapering legs with H stretchers.

They really are a stunning set with the best quality mahogany used but also come at a fraction of the price to an original set of Georgian Chippendale chairs.

So just because they are only around 100 years old do not let this deter you as sets like these are currently reasonable to buy but will only increase in value as time goes on and they get harder to find but also you get a stunning period looking antique but that are constructed to last as they are built from quality timber.

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Types of antique seating we sell

Driscolls Antiques sell many different pieces of antique furniture and we offer lots of different types of antique seating. below is a list of different antique seating we sell with a short explanation of what they mean.

Antique dining chairs are chairs to sit around your dining table and sre the most used type of antique seating.

A Slat back chair is a dining chair with parallel horizontal slats and can also be known as a ladder back chair.

A Fan back chair is a chair with a fan shaped back or curved like a comb back Windsor chair.

A fiddle back chair has a shaped back splat in the form of a violin shape.

A plank chair is an early chair in the form of a chair with boards forming the back and seat.

A joint stool is also an early form of seating and is a joined stool with turned legs.

A riddle back chairs back has a series of pierced slats.

A Rod back chair has a rectangular back composed of bamboo turned spindles.

A Rush seat can be seen on many country chairs and the seats are made from twisted stems of rush or reeds.

A spindle back chair has a back composed of spindles.

A Saddle seat on a chair is a concave shaped seat of a chair.

A camel back settee is a settee with the back in the shape of two humps downward and three humps upward like a camel back.

A drawing room chair an armchair with upholstered back.

An easy chair is an upholstered armchair also known as a wing chair.

A chaise longue has a single high armrest which can also be used as a back to lay down on.

A hall chair is a chair used in a hallway.

A settee is a small sofa used for a comfy seating in a living room.

A settle is a wooden bench usually in oak with high back and arms, from the 17^th and 18^th century.

A spoon back chair has a back which curves like a spoon.

A voltaire chair is an easy chair with a tall back and can have a rolled top with wood trim.

A square back chair back in the form of a square or rectangle.

A Windsor chair is a period chair with high back, with spindles and stands on turned legs.

A Wainscot armchair is a 17th century chair with panelled back and plank seat, very simple in design and most were built in oak.

We have many of these types of chairs for sale to see our seating section on our website for further details.

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What is the term shield back used for on antique furniture

The term shield back on antique furniture comes from an antique chair back. It is basically an antique chair back in the shape of a shield and was first seen on antique chair designs by George Hepplewhite.

We currently have for sale some very nice examples like our set of 8 antique mahogany dining chairs from the Edwardian period in the style of the renowned antique furniture designer Hepplewhite. Each of the antique chairs have a plain simple in design shield shaped back with a plain pierced back splat. This beautiful set of antique chairs stands on splayed back legs, has tapering front legs and an H stretcher for added stability.

For a more intricate design of a shield back look at our set of 6 Edwardian walnut Hepplewhite design dining chairs with beautifully carved shield shaped backs. The antique chairs again stand on splayed back legs but this set has tapering front legs with spade feet.

both sets of antique chairs are currently for sale on our antiques website and are of very good quality in a very nice design.

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Antique Sofa, Chaise lounge, Chesterfield and Daybed

If you are looking to buy a comfortable piece of antique furniture large enough to seat more than one person then why not look at our antique sofas, antique chaise lounges, antique chesterfields and antique daybeds.

The antique sofa can come in many different styles and a very nice version is a chesterfield as it is an overstuffed upholstered sofa that is very comfy. We have a very nice antique upholstered chesterfield for sale at the moment and it has a scrolled, buttoned back and arms, with loose cushions, stands on splayed back legs and tapering front legs with brass castors. This chesterfield has a continuous arm which means the chairs arms are a continuation all around the back.

An antique chaise lounge is a long chair designed for relaxing and is usually upholstered. it can also be called an antique Daybed. They are armless lounge seating and are upholstered but have also been known as an antique couch. We currently have a beautiful antique mahogany chaise longue / daybed for sale and it has a moulded buttoned carved back, scrolled arm and a deep padded seat, stands on beautifully turned feet with brass cup castors.

All come upholstered and are very comfortable to sit on so are ideal for your living rooms plus as they are antiques they will hopefully hold their values and hopefully increase in value over time.

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What is a cross stretcher on antique Chairs

On antique chairs they have at the bottom behind the feet section a cross stretcher or also known as a H stretcher. It is a stretcher that joins in the middle of the two stretchers that run from front leg to back leg. Also seen on some antique chairs there is a cresing rail which is the top rail of the antique chair, joining the two back uprights at the top. There can also be a double H stretcher, basically meaning two cross rails instead of one. All these add to the strength and stability of antique furniture and this is why pieces last for so many hundreds of years in such good condition.

Below is some pictures of 8 Victorian mahogany antique dining chairs in the Hepplewhite design each chair has a square back with beautifully carved uprights and moulded edges, stand on splayed back legs, tapering front legs and H stretchers for added stability.

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Different types of antique upholstered furniture we sell.

Here at Driscolls antiques have a large stock of antique furniture for sale and we do get some very nice upholstered antique furniture in different forms, shapes and for different uses.

Antique upholstered furniture is usually designed for your living room and are made for comfort but some also double up for storage.

This week we have put up for sale some very nice pieces of upholstered furniture like our antique Victorian walnut upholstered footstool with scrolled carved cabriole front legs, turned back legs and a central carved motif. It is upholstered in a neutral fabric with a matching braid trim. This would go well with our antique comfy Edwardian upholstered armchair with a shaped back, scrolled arms and a deep cushion. It has turned front legs and brass castors and has been upholstered in a neutral coloured fabric.
a very similar chair we have in stock is our antique Edwardian comfy armchair again with a shaped back but this antique chair has wings, scrolled arms and a deep cushion. The chair has turned front legs and castors. The chair has been upholstered in a blue fabric.

Finally if you want upholstered furniture with storage we have an antique Regency rosewood upholstered ottoman in a sarcophagus shape which has been recently upholstered in a neutral velvet fabric. The lid lifts up and has storage.

We get lots of upholstered furniture in stock and we will be looking to get lots more choice in the future as it is very popular and we want to offer our customers lots more choice.

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    Are there larger sets of antique chairs

If you are looking for larger sets of antique chairs then please always check our website as we get lots of sets of chairs in stock but you see lots of smaller sets of chairs like sets of 4 chairs or sets of 6 chairs but anything above that it becomes very difficult. This is because, most sets of chairs would have begun life as a set of 12 or 14 chairs but if the owner passed away there will would specify the chair sets would be split between the family. So if there were two sons each son would receive a set of 6 chairs or 8 chairs each. When we do get full matching sets of 12 antique chairs it is very rare and they do hold a premium, but they would be a wise investment as they are becoming harder and harder to find and when they come up for sale in auction houses people from far and wide come to buy them so it makes them too expensive to buy because they are rare pieces of antique furniture. We do currently have some very nice sets of six and eight antique chairs at the moment and on many occasions two similar sets can be joined together to make a larger set. This can work out to be a much more cost effective way to own a large set of antique chairs and being very slightly different it can add a bit of character to the set. For example we currently have four larger sets of hepplewhite design antique chairs so you can take your pick to which ones go together best. We have a set of eight Edwardian antique mahogany ding chairs, a set of 6 Hepplewhite design Victorian mahogany dining chairs, a set of six antique Victorian mahogany dining chairs and a Set of Six Edwardian Walnut Hepplewhite Dining Chairs.

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About Antique Chairs and Seating History

The earliest forms of antique seating was mainly simple benches or stools in medieval times, or only if you was the master of the house and his wife there would be some odd grand chairs as the chair was a symbol of rank and position, until the 16th century when the chair became more common. At first chairs were constructed of a boxed construction, but later they lost the box panels under the arms and seats and were known as joined chairs.

The stool was the earliest and main form of antique seating and early rural houses would have the three legged stick stools and in towns and public rooms stools of a simple trestle construction could be seen. By the mid 16th century better made joint stool were more common.

In the 17th century the back stool changed into a stool with a half back and was portable unlike the earlier larger chairs.

Most early chairs were made from locally timbers, such as oak and beech but the more elaborate styles were introduced into England from continental Europe and were mainly in walnut.

In the 18^th century English chairs begun to develop their own character and style and in the Queen Anne chair was produced, with a vase shaped splat running from the crest to the seat rail from the back and the curved cabriole legs.

Hepplewhite and Sheraton styles at the end of the 18^th century and leaned towards the more robust forms of chair design inspired from ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt.

Early 19^th century antique dining chairs, had curved top rails, sabre legs and scrolled arms, were an elegant form of seating and in the Victorian period the antique chair, known as the antique balloon back chairs was very popular between 1850 and 1870 in Britain.

In the late 19^th century and early 20^th century antique chair styles varied largely with French , Chinese and Gothic designs and the Neo classical look was very popular along with copies from earlier designs. Our antique furniture website has all antique chair designs from all periods for sale.

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