Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

This chair, as far as I know, originally belonged to Jonathan Edwards back in the 1700s, and it was, uh, passed down through his family, and then on to my family through my great-great-grandfather. And so I'm not directly related to Jonathan Edwards.

APPRAISER

Right.

GUEST

It was a stepmother...

APPRAISER

A stepmother.

GUEST

That gave the chair to my great-great-grandfather.

APPRAISER

You now own it, you inherited it, right?

GUEST

Yeah, it sits in my bedroom.

APPRAISER

It sits in your bedroom. Do you sit in it once in a while?

GUEST

(chuckling) Ah, no.

APPRAISER

Okay, Jonathan Edwards is one of the great mid-18th-century American philosophers and theologians.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

He was absolutely one of the most incredible orators. He gave a lecture called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" in 1741. He was very famous during his own time, very well-known.

GUEST

Right, right.

APPRAISER

So the fact that he owned this chair, I think is really, is really great.

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

This was made in Boston.

GUEST

Oh, wow.

APPRAISER

About 1740 to probably 1755.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

So the way we know it's, it's old is to flip it upside down and look at these tool marks. Do you see, even though some varnish is coming over...

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

...over the edge, these nice, uneven tool marks?

GUEST

Yeah. And this chair was made by one of probably 25 to 30 chair makers working in Boston, somewhere in between 1730 and 1750.

APPRAISER

We have a Queen Anne back here with this yoked crest rail...

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

...which is attached to these stiles on each side. This vase-shaped, elongated splat, which is classic Boston.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

Now, this type of chair made in Boston during this time-- mid-18th century-- had two types of seats you could have. You could have a rectilinear seat-- one that's rectangle.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

Or the compass seat. This is a compass seat. You see how it's curved, it kind of rounds?

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

And that was the more expensive model. If you come down to the legs, it has these nice, shaped brackets, these cabriole legs, and these beautiful pad feet. All joined by stretchers with arrow-turned ends, here at terminals. This is a replaced seat cover, right?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

What's the story?

GUEST

Uh, my grandfather wove this to cover the, um, seat cover that was already on there.

APPRAISER

Okay, I asked you before if I could possibly make a little cut somewhere, right? And you said it was okay? I did make a cut-- now, you haven't seen this yet, I know, right?

GUEST

(laughing) My mother is going to kill me.

APPRAISER

Close your eyes, you're gonna be okay. Okay, okay, so, no, it's okay. But you know why? Because you're not going to be able to see it.

But I did make-- see, a little cut. You can see here that underneath, it does not have, unfortunately, the original, the original covering.

GUEST

Oh, okay.

APPRAISER

This is chair number four. You see this? See this four right there?

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

And this maple frame that's under here-- if it's maple, if it's original-- would also have a four there that would match. Now, do you mind if I make a little tiny cut right there and look at the frame?

GUEST

Well, I can replace this part, right?

APPRAISER

No, no, all I'm do-- I make a little incision right here and peek.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

Do you want me to do it? Is it okay?

GUEST

I do want to know.

APPRAISER

You want to know.

GUEST

Sorry, sorry, Grammy.

APPRAISER

Do you want to know? Okay, we're going to do it, I'm going to cut really, really carefully, we're going to take a peek and see if that's the original maple frame. It is. You see that beautiful color?

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

That's period 1740, and that helps the value. And probably somewhere on there-- there it is, look at that, look, Megan. One, two, three, four.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

Matching that one, two, three, four on the chair.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

Original seat frame.

GUEST

Great.

APPRAISER

If it didn't have the provenance, it would just be a nice, basic chair, probably, I'd say, in a shop, $3,000.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

With the provenance of Jonathan Edwards, it probably is upwards of $5,500, and maybe even a little more.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

Because it's this great history, okay?

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

Would you like to know what it'd be worth if you had, if you could find the original cover?

GUEST

Absolutely.

APPRAISER

You could probably add another $20,000.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

So maybe that's somewhere in your family.

GUEST

(laughing) Yeah.

APPRAISER

Look in the attic, okay?

GUEST

I'll ask again.

APPRAISER

Oh, yeah, ask again, okay?

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

Okay.