The topic of replacing medallions in the backs of sheet cane chairs and rockers comes come up frequently in the Seatweaving and Wicker Repair Forum.
So when I read this Scripps Howard News Service November 28, 2005 article about establishing the value of this chair, I thought everyone might like to read the article and see the picture, too.
Chair Appraisal Article <expired link>
Just in case the article is taken down off the web, here’s a brief synopis of it:
A gentleman from Cape Coral, Florida wrote to antique dealers and appraisers, Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson for an appraisal and dating of what he thought was a Duncan Phyfe, 3-panel mediallion back sheet cane chair. The chair was in perfect condition with the exception of a two inch hole in the sheet cane middle panel, down toward the bottom.
Fendelman and Rosson’s response was that it was not Duncan Phyfe but a more recent piece from between 1915-1925, with a mismash of designs and styles. They established the approximate insurance replacement value of the chair (if in perfect condition), to be in the $400 to $500 range. But in its current condition, that value drops to less than half of that figure, because of the hole in the cane panel that needs to be professionally replaced.
Interesting, huh?
(Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of the “Price It Yourself” (HarperResource, $19.95). Questions can by mailed to them at P.O. Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.)
