Mystery Chair

October 28, 2010 9:48 AM

Can you identify this chair?

This chair has been in our family for decades, and I would like to know the date or period it was made, as well as the style or name. My mom always called it a "key" chair, because of its shape. I have never seen another like it. The wood looks like oak to me, right? I would also like to know the approximate value for insurance purposes. TIA

posted by weapons-grade pandemonium to home & garden (7 answers total)

It does look like oak, and it's a spinning chair - the chair a person sat in while sitting spinning roving or some sort of fiber. See lots of variations here. Yours is a beauty!
posted by iconomy at 10:01 AM on October 28, 2010

Here's a previous askMe that was identified as a more rustic version of the same. Yours looks fantastic.
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:17 AM on October 28, 2010

The center disk comes out, so it may have been used with a chamber pot. It was never glued, as the fit is loose and surfaces are clean wood.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:26 AM on October 28, 2010

The chair is 46.5 inches high. The center disk is 8 inches in diameter.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:29 AM on October 28, 2010

I think your chair is a wooden pun.

It put me strongly in mind of musical instruments-- after peering at it for awhile, most strongly a banjo.

I found similar looking chairs by doing a Google images search for banjo chair.
posted by jamjam at 10:33 AM on October 28, 2010

It doesn't look like oak to me, but the pic really isn't close or clear enough to say.
posted by jon1270 at 11:51 AM on October 28, 2010

It's oak or ash, I like the idea of a chamber pot, if the pot rested in the hole much like the disc does. This is pure speculation but the disc may have even been used to cover the pot after a late night use, to keep the oder contained.
posted by Max Power at 4:16 PM on October 28, 2010