Antique Early 20th Century Oak Reclining Swivel Office / Captain’s Chair

Here’s a fine, old chair with considerable vintage character and charm along with an amazing history and quite possibly very well travelled. An antique piece from the turn of the 20th century, it’s an office / captain’s chair in solid oak with an upholstered seat, turned spindle back and curved, swept arms. There is a cast iron mechanism underneath which enable the chair to rise, swivel 360 degrees and also recline. Very comfortable for working, it’s a perfect accompaniment to a more traditional office set up. In terms of its history, design historian and expert in bentwood furniture, Virginia Wright, advised us that the chair was most likely Canadian in origin. Canadian chairs of this sort were exported to Britain from the late 19th century through to the 1930s. Indeed, there was a large warehouse at Liverpool docks receiving such pieces in from across the Atlantic. The same model of chair also went south to Australia and they can be seen in old photographs of the Michell Library, Sidney.