How to Idenitfy Antique Windsor Chairs

American Windsor chairs were characterized by their lightweight look from the 18th century. Delicate spindles and different backrest configurations were the hallmark of design. The basic styles are low back, loop back, and fan back. Other variations include long Windsor settees and writing arm chairs, complete with small drawers built in under the seat or desk. They become the prototype for the writing desks used today in schools worldwide.

The method 0f making a Windsor chair is called "stick construction" because all the parts, except for the seat, are sticks. The legs and stretchers can be decoratively turned, but the sticks forming the backrest of the chair are smooth and plain. They were cut from dense, springy hardwoods, such as hickory, that could be shaved without splintering. The thin, green sticks were held in one hand and trimmed and shaped with the using a knife. They could also be secured in a clamp and trimmed with a drawshave. It was nearly impossible to use a lathe, as the thin, flexible sticks would spin about like a whip.

The backrest of American Windsors almost always has an odd number of spindles, a center spindle with an equal number on each side. Up to eleven spindles can be found on 18th-century side chair, though a count of nine is acceptable to most collectors. Generally the thinner and more numerous the spindle legs and thicker the plank seats, the older the chair. Sometimes the two outer spindles are thicker and turned, instead of slender and straight. English-made Windsors feature a center cut work splat flanked by spindles on either side.

Windsor chairs were traditionally inexpensive, just a few shillings in 18th century America, because they were so readily constructed from surplus woods. The Windsor chair appealed to people of every social class, and marked the final transition to a period when everyone, not only the wealthy, could enjoy the ease of sitting in a comfortable chair.

The chair's original name came from the 17th century town of Windsor in England, which was known for being an import market town. The original Windsors were made with stick legs and spindles driven into a plank seat. Hickory and ash were used for the springy, easy to shape use, which was ideal. This construction required no screws or nails. The Windsor chairs of Philadelphia are made with low backs., fan backs, sack backs followed the, and bow backs. A New England version was fashioned with a continuous hoop and arm. During the second half of the 18th century, Windsors were being made in quantity in most major American cities, and Connecticut became an important Windsor manufacturing center. One of the most important Connecticut craftsmen working in this style was Ebenezer Tracy (1744-1803).

By the early 19th century, as craftsmen migrated to new areas, American regional styles became less clear-cut, and the chairs became heavier and less graceful. They soon lost favor to decoratively painted factory-made chairs. In England, the Windsor lingered a bit longer.

In antique shops today, and at almost every auction, late Windsor types and fancy settees of many kinds are on sale. They display plain-painted, fancy-painted, and stenciled examples for sale. Buy your Windsor and old furniture in as nearly original condition as possible, even though the a print is flaking off and only traces of decoration remain. Because these chairs and settees were constructed with a number of differenttypes of wood, they were painted in such colors as red, black, blue, yellow, rose and even gray. Some pieces had floral decorations to conceal the difference in the materials.

Comparing the Philadelphia Windsor in poplar, white wood, or in pine, to those made in New England which were usually pine, you'll discover these woods are all light in weight. A chair made in the usual modern heavy maple seat must use thin material to be light.

Caution should be taken in examination of the seat of a Windsor. A reproduction Windsor should not possess a mahogany seat. It is not desirable.

Early Windsor furniture from the colonial period is quite scarce. Only one out of every ten Windsor chairs today are authentic old pieces. They may have an altered part such as a leg. Often a turned leg will show decay, spindles will have a hairline split or even be broken. Rails and arms may need repair or replacement. However, you need not miss the enjoyment of an early Windsor just because you hate a stored piece. What should bother the collector is that he might buy a piece as being in original condition, only to discover he has purchased a restored piece at original condition price. Original pieces of furniture in "as new" condition will rival the stock market for investment security.

When considering an original Windsor versus a later reproduction, note that cheap modern Windsors are made with thin seats. Old seats are fully, if not quite, two inches thick in the thicker parts. Old Windsors, because the seat was thick, were deeply shaped. American Windsor chairs have thinner spindles and show craftsmanship. The spindles should appear to be uniform width upon first glance but should also reveal the irregularities of hand shaving upon closer inspection. They may be slightly thicker at bottom where the wood-worker held the stick for shaving.

American regional variations can be identified by the legs and seat. Legs ending in a small ball boot are in the Philadelphia and New York style. Tapered legs without a foot are in the New England style. Round seat hollows were made in Connecticut. A "U" shaped saddle seat shows northern New England origins