Antique English Victorian Mahogany & Green Leather Revolving Office Desk Arm Chair (Circa 1870)

Object Description

This is a fine quality antique English Victorian desk chair, constructed from solid mahogany, featuring a revolving mechanism, with a newly upholstered green leather seat, circa 1870, in excellent condition.

Summary:
Item: Victorian Desk Chair
Circa: 1870
Period: Victorian
Retailer: P. E. Gane Ltd.
Provenance: Bristol, England, UK
Wood: Solid mahogany
Rotates 360 degrees
Curved bar back
Central fan splat & spindles
Newly upholstered in green leather
Hand tacked brass stud seat
Splayed mahogany legs
New solid brass & mug castors
Very comfortable
Cleaned & serviced cast iron mechanism
Original polish & patination
Excellent condition
Free delivery to mainland England, Wales & southern Scotland*
14-day free UK returns policy

Description:
This is a fine quality antique English Victorian desk chair, constructed from solid mahogany, featuring a revolving mechanism, with a newly upholstered green leather seat, circa 1870, in excellent condition. This antique revolving office chair features a curved bar back, secured by shaped arms and supported by an elegant, incorporating a central fan splat, flanked by reeded bar-shape spindles. The mahogany office chair seat has been newly upholstered in top quality full grain green leather, which has been finished with hand-tacked brass studs to the serpentine shaped seat frame. The underside of the seat has been re-webbed in the traditional manner. The original retailers’ label is still present on the underside of the seat, which reads “P. E. GANE LTD., HOUSE FURNISHERS, COLLEGE GREEN, BRISTOL”.

The original cast iron revolving mechanism has been cleaned and greased and is in good working order. The Victorian desk chair mechanism allows the chair to rotate 360 degrees. This office chair is not height adjustable, neither does it recline. Early Victorian desk chairs did not feature such functionality. The Victorian office chair sits on four splayed solid mahogany legs which terminate on new solid brass ang brown mug castors. This mahogany desk chair is extremely comfortable to sit on as it features a lovely padded seat with a comfortable back.

The Victorian desk chair boasts a mellow brown mahogany colour. The antique office chair has been cleaned and French polished, by hand, to a professional standard, in our workshop, therefore the polish and patination is of an excellent standard. This mahogany revolving office chair would look superb in a variety of rooms in the home, especially the office or study as it is so comfortable. This antique office chair would certainly grace any home. So, don’t miss out on your chance to own a lovely piece of furniture.

Dimensions:
External Height = 82cm / 32¼” / 2ft 8¼”
External Width (Arms) = 67cm / 26⅜” / 2ft 2⅜”
External Depth = 53cm / 20⅞” / 1ft 8⅞”
Back Height = 38cm / 15” / 1ft 3”
Arm Height = 73cm / 28¾” / 2ft 4¾”
Seat Height (Centre) = 50cm / 19¾” / 1ft 7¾”
Seat Height (Front Rail) = 46cm / 18⅛” / 1ft 6⅛”
Seat Width (Leather Pad) = 45cm / 17¾” / 1ft 5¾”
Seat Width (In-between Arms) = 49cm / 19¼” / 1ft 7¼”
Seat Depth = 51.5cm / 20¼” / 1ft 8¼”

Customer Service::
We offer customer satisfaction through the following services:
Free delivery to England, Wales & Southern Scotland*
14-Day Free UK Returns
Full money back assurance
Worldwide shipping
Full insurance of items in transit

Further Information:
For more information or photographs please email or call Yola Gray Antiques.
Office: 01829 458 070
Julian: 07960 738 212 
Yola: 07971 882 567 
Customers outside the UK should call: 
Office: 00 44 1829 458 070 
Julian: 00 44 7960 738 212 
Yola: 00 44 7971 882 567 
Email: [email protected]

Free UK Delivery*:
We offer free delivery to mainland England, Wales, and Southern Scotland (anywhere south of Stirling). *We do not offer free delivery to locations north of Stirling in Scotland, Northern Ireland, or any British Islands off the mainland; for example, the Isle of Man, Isle of White and Channel Islands. If you live in one of the areas where we do not offer free delivery, please contact us for a delivery quote before purchasing the item. Delivery will be made by our specialised antique furniture delivery service, or in some cases we will use a courier service for distant deliveries.

Delivery times are usually 1-4 weeks depending on location; we aim to deliver the majority of items within 2 weeks. All items are professionally packaged and fully insured in transit; therefore, we can assure you, your items will be securely protected in transit and arrive safely with you.

Once you have purchased an item, we will contact you by email and/or telephone and provide you with a provisional delivery date, in order for you to confirm if it is suitable for you. Once you have confirmed you can accept delivery on the provisional delivery date, we will book the delivery in with our shippers and it then becomes a confirmed delivery date.

We will also provide you with our shippers’ contact details, in case you need to contact the driver on the day of delivery. It’s helpful if you can provide us with both the landline and mobile telephone number, in case the driver cannot reach you on one of the numbers on the day of delivery, they can contact you on your alternative number.

In order to be able to offer you free delivery, it is based on a 1-man delivery only. For any large items that require 2 people to lift the item, we ask that you are available at the time of delivery to be able to give our shipper a lift off the van and into your house with the item. If you are not able to lift items yourself, we ask that you have someone on hand at the time of delivery to assist our shipper with lifting the item.

14-Day Free UK Returns & Refunds:
A 14-day “no quibble” free UK returns policy (from the date you receive the item) is available if you are not happy with this item. We will collect the item free of charge from you (we do not charge a return fee / collection fee). You will be given a full refund as long as the item is returned in the same condition. We will collect returns using our own specialist furniture delivery company. We will not accept returns via a courier service (due to experience of damaged items in transit). This refund policy only applies to deliveries to the UK.

UK Buyer Payment:
For UK buyers, we accept cash on collection or delivery; cheque, edit and credit card, BACS (free bank to bank transfer) or PayPal. Payment is requested within 10 days of the sale. Payment must be cleared before the items are collected or delivered. If we do not receive payment within 10 days of the sale, we reserve the right to cancel the sale and place the item up for sale again.

International Buyers:
If you live outside the UK and you would like to purchase this item, please contact us before purchasing it, so that we can obtain an accurate shipping quote and delivery lead-time. The shipping quote provided is a global estimate only. The actual shipping cost will vary by country and postcode. Due to the distances and costs involved with shipping outside the UK, a returns policy is therefore not available for international buyers. Before placing your order(s) please make sure this is the item for you. We request payment by bank transfer (we do not accept payment via PayPal, credit or debit cards for international purchases). Payment is requested within 10 days of the purchase. Payment must be cleared before the items are collected or delivered to our shippers. The advertised price of the item does not include the shipping cost, sales tax, import duty or custom fees. If we do not receive payment within 10 days of the sale, we reserve the right to cancel the sale and place the item up for sale again.

Important information regarding PayPal payment

We only accept payment from fully verified PayPal account holders with confirmed addresses only. Items will only be sent to the confirmed address registered in PayPal. If you purchase an item and your address is not confirmed, your payment will be refunded and the purchase cancelled. It only takes a few moments to verify and confirm your PayPal details.

About the Seller:
This item is being sold by Yola Gray Antiques who is an accredited member of LAPADA (the UK’s largest Trade Association of Professional Art and Antique Dealers) and CINOA. CINOA is the world association of art & antique dealer associations. All LAPADA & CINOA members abide by their strict code of practice by adhering to reputable standards of quality, expertise and integrity.

Yola Gray has dealt in fine art and antique furniture for over 45 years. Yola Gray has a special interest in colonial furniture, specifically colonial four poster beds. Yola Gray also supplies a variety of fine English antique furniture, art and fabrics to clients in the UK, Europe and further afield.

Please visit the Yola Gray website at www.yolagray.com for further items and information.

Product Code: 116121

Object History

History of the Office Chair:
An office chair, or desk chair, is a type of chair that is designed for use at a desk in an office. It is usually a swivel chair, with a set of wheels for mobility and adjustable height. Modern office chairs typically use a single, distinctive load bearing leg (often called a gas lift), which is positioned underneath the chair seat. Near the floor this leg spreads out into several smaller feet, which are often wheeled and called casters.

Before the nineteenth century, most of the global workforce was employed in agrarian labour—an “office chair” was only relevant for the wealthy, government officials and academics. In fact, Charles Darwin is the earliest known adopter of a proto-office chair, grafting wheels onto a normal chair in the 1840s so he could swivel between specimens. It goes without saying that this was a fairly uncommon use case.

Then came the railroad, the advent of manufacturing, and the Industrial Revolution. As the traditional model of labour was upended, more administrative workers were needed for logistical coordination and bookkeeping, and the concept of general and administrative workers was born. Businesses empowered by rail access in scaling and expanding to new markets employed more and more people—creating a cadre of middle managers.

This was the first time in history that productivity accrued on a mass scale from people sitting indoors. As white-collar workers became a crucial economic resource for the first time, their bosses began to recognize the value of making them comfortable.

The “Centripetal Office Chair”, designed by the inventor Thomas Warren and launched by the American Chair Company in 1851 at the Great Exhibition in London. An example of this office chair now sits in the Brooklyn Museum.

History of P.E. Gane Ltd. (late Trapnell and Gane) Ltd. 1872 – 1956
The business was begun by Henry Trapnell in 1824 in Host Street. As it developed, new premises were acquired in St. James’s Barton, Queen’s Street, St. Michael’s and Barrs Street, St. Paul’s. In 1860 the headquarters of the business moved to College Green. By 1889 branches had opened in both Cardiff and Newport. A final expansion of the firm’s manufacturing resources took place in 1903 when a five-floor factory was opened in Hill Street, Bristol.

During the 19th century, Henry Trapnell’s sons William and Caleb helped build up the business. Philip Endres Gane, who had been employed since boyhood, was taken into partnership and at the end of the century took over proprietorship. In 1851 an imposing exhibit was designed and made by the firm’s craftsmen for the Great Exhibition and in the following year there is record of a notable exhibit prepared for the Paris Exhibition. Royalty, too, were furnished direct in the 19th century and the furnishing of reception rooms for royal visits was often entrusted to the firm.

In 1909 a private limited company was formed of which Philip Endres Gane was chairman and managing director. His two sons, Leslie and Crofton, became associated with the firm as directors. The latter took over the chairmanship on the death of his father in 1933. Air raids during the Second World War took a heavy toll of company premises. The large showrooms on College Green were totally destroyed in 1940 along with much furniture and many records. Shortly afterwards its workshop in St. Paul’s and also its warehouse suffered the same fate.

The wartime destruction and other factors effectively ended the company’s long-held reputation as a manufacturer of high-class house furnishings. In post war years the company operated from its showroom at 79 Park Street, Bristol. Unfortunately, these premises provided a totally inadequate single window display for its various departments. In 1950 the company’s Newport branch closed (its Cardiff branch had already been sold in 1930) and four years later the company itself passed into voluntary liquidation.

Object Condition

Condition Report:
The Victorian desk chair and mechanism are in excellent working condition. Nominal old use marks to the leading edges of the chair frame but nothing significant considering the age of the item. The chair seat has been newly upholstered in top quality full grain sage green leather, which incorporates the traditional brass studwork tacks to the seat perimeter and traditional hessian material to the underside. Therefore, the leather is in excellent new condition, with no wear, fading or damage. The original cast iron revolving mechanism has been cleaned and greased and is in good working order. There are no breaks to the cast iron mechanism or the legs. There is some play to the mechanism but this is perfectly acceptable, and in line with the age of the chair. The chair has been cleaned and French polished, by hand, to a professional standard, in our workshop, therefore the polish and patination is of an excellent standard. The chair sits on four splayed solid mahogany legs which terminate on new solid brass castors and brown mug castors. This desk chair is solid in joint and ready to use.

Object Details