Is my barn rescue worth anything? W.F. Whitney Victorian style child's rocker.

[cwynne73]

Hi!  I was at an estate sale over the weekend and dug this chair out of a very old barn in Upstate NY.  The chair has a sticker on it indicating it is a W.F Whitney from Ashburnham Massachusetts.    There are a lot of other measurement markers on the underside.  It is a child's size rocker.  I am wondering if this is something I let my daughter play with or does it have some value?  I can't find another one like it and it looks like this might date back as early as 1862 or a bit later?  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[cwynne73]

Here is the picture of lable and pencil marks.

[lostinthepast]

I'm not a wicker expert. . and this board is poorly trafficked. . . but I have collected Victoriana for my entire lifetime.

I will give you a caveat that this 'would' have been valuable. . it's a very nice wickerChild's rocker. . but from the pics, the condition has suffered.  There are multiple pieces of decorative wicker missing from the back, and the seat doesn't look original. . . Looks to me to date 1890s or so.

I guess it depends on what you paid!  If this were restored and/or in better shape, likely has value . . in this condition, if you didn't pay alot, I  might just use it for the kids.

Hope that helped,

Laura

[highlandsales]

That's adorable.  I would find a way to fill the back area with wicker that makes it look reasonably the same and then

I would paint the rocker and distress the paint in certain areas where the wear makes sense, and then I'd rub in Orange

Oil into the paint to give it a very slight antique look to the finish.  I'd then either make or buy a light floral print seat cushion for the seat.  I think this would bring your rocker back to life and even if you then sold it on eBay...I think there's still a market for shabby-you-

know-what out there.  

We recently moved across country and I was surprised to find that it's still very popular out here.  About ten years ago, I made a

very decent living buying items like you have, sprucing them up in this way and then selling them.  

Good luck!  

[highlandsales]

I forgot to say that I'd recommend painting it white... 

[daryn38]

The W.F. Whitney company founded by Alfred Whitney is from the 1920's.  I visited the Ashburnham, Mass. Historical Society and they had several catalogs and pieces of furniture on display in their museum.  Now, I visited quite a few years ago, so things may have changed there.  The seat is not original to your chair and was probably added some time ago.  It is also missing some of the scroll work off the back which probably damages its overall value.  I do remember the people in the historical society telling me that the brown or "natural" colored pieces were more valuable that the painted pieces as they were more rare.  By the time this company made such furniture, white and cream painted pieces were in vogue.  Be careful before you allow it to be further damaged and for heaven's sakes don't paint it any colors until you can confirm that it is indeed a rare piece.  Good luck and I hope you've found a true treasure!

[nytere]

If you go here, about 2/3 down the page

 (tried to include link which i wasn't able to)

you will see this:

W. F. Whitney Company, Inc.

Note: this information is from A Century of Chair Making 1828-1928 The History of Alfred H. Whitney Co.
Founded: In 1828, by John Whitney. In the 1880s John Whitney’s sons Orange and Alfred took over the business. In 1921 a corporation was formed by Alfred H. Whitney and the two sons of Orange Whitney, Marcus and Richard.
Locations: The company began in north Westminster. In 1862, Mr. Whitney built a new factory in South Ashburnham and moved his business there. In 1899 the plant was destroyed by fire but immediately rebuilt. After another fire in 1920 a larger factory was built.
Products: At the beginning, John Whitney made one kind of chairs, by hand. He made scroll arm or Boston Rockers, in three sizes: Large Rocker, Misses’ Rocker and Child’s Rocker. These had wood seats, but later cane seats were made. By the 1920s, the company was making an extensive line of chairs for home, office, hotels and restaurants. By the 1950s Whitney was offering Colonial/traditional style living room, dining room and bedroom furniture.

There is more. go to the page to see the rest.