In my spare time I like to fish on the Chesapeake Bay for Stripers, Bluefish, crabs and miscellaneous other fish in Tilghman, MD. From my vacation spot down there, I can paddle around and easily encounter what is termed a Pound Net. It is a large enclosed net that indiscriminately takes in all unfortunate fish species that meander into it’s hedging section and get trapped in the “pound”.

As I mentioned before, it is largely indiscriminate in it’s prey and it isn’t uncommon to see some protected Maryland Terrapins trapped in the nets. It’s heartbreaking for me to watch the boats leave after cleaning out the pound nets and see them filled stem to stern with fish filled to the top. Before I risk a complete tangent on the topic of pound nets and my disdain for them, I’ll get to my point.

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Guess who is the new owner of one of the chairs in the recent Henkels attribution drama.  The lengths I won’t go to to make sure Rare Victorian readers get the best information …

In reality, I have been wanting to own one of these for quite some time and coincidentally ran into one this weekend at a somewhat local antique shop.  I’m still working on a revised theory on who made these chairs and part of it is based on woodwright’s observation in the post comments that there are two similar chairs - not one.

I still haven’t received my copy of the Lichten book, but according to misslilybart, there is no supporting information in the book beyond the picture and caption that the above chair was made by Robert Renwick.

There is an 8 piece Henkels attributed parlor set on Ebay at the moment.  The floating, padded oval in the seat back is the basis for all these Henkels attributions.  As you can see from the pierce-carvings in the seat back, the one above has relief carvings while the ones on Ebay do not, which look more as if they were cut with a simple jigsaw.  There is obviously work to be done to get to the bottom of all of this Henkels business …

More details on the parlor set at the Ebay listing.  Bidding ends July 2nd and it is currently up to $6,401.

I have a labeled Horner Hall or Throne chair (sometimes referred to as Savranola or “X”-Chair) and I have three other unlabeled chairs that share similar traits, so I’ll document how I would come to the conclusion that they are all by the Horner shop.  I wish I could give you a recipe for identifying Horner Hall Trees, dining room sets, etc. but for the moment I will focus on these style chairs alone.

I don’t have much information on these chairs to know whether they were Horner manufactured or just distributed by the company.  Prominently on every Horner label is a mention that they were makers and importers.  Years ago I also read a claim that a certain “School” (TR School?) made these for Horner, but that information was on a fleeting Ebay chair auction and a Google today on those keywords turns up nothing.

The Comparisons

The starting point for making the attribution is the “reference chair” and it’s original label that provides, in my mind, the basis of identifying the others as being by Horner.  The label is located under the seat and looks properly aged like many others that I have seen.

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Related items currently available for sale

Vickypicker may have found a smoking gun to refute my assertion that the chair was made by George Henkels.  I think I’ll make definitive statements more often as it draws people out with their information.  Please see the comments to read what he has to say and my response.

A book that he has documents the chair as being by Robert Renwick of Baltimore.  I have now purchased the book in question and it should be here in a few days. I want to see if there is any more context and what the general authority of the book is.  I’ve revised the earlier post so as to temper the assertion until we find out more.  See a signed Renwick dresser here.

In other news, Rare Victorian is in Antique Trader’s July 9th issue - sort of.  Page 5 has a reprint of this blog post but unfortunately no mention of RareVictorian.com.  What’s a guy gotta do to get some press around here?

Hopefully RV may get some national press next weekend.  I and a few RV regulars have (or will be) interviewed by a prestigious business paper about the Victorian antique market.  The article was in the pitch stage when I was interviewed and is now green-lighted.  I look forward to reading it (assuming it happens) and will let everyone know when to look for it.

It always gives me great pleasure to nail down a maker of a piece of furniture that we often see being sold as “attributed to” and be able to turn that into a definite “made by”. No further need to attribute this chair to anyone other than George Henkels (which is usually what the “attributed to” is).**

An original ad done by George Henkels documented in Victorian Details shows this very chair design prominently on page 43. The drawing is somewhat stylized, 19th Century style, but the unmistakable side bolsters are identically presented.

I’ve blogged about this chair previously here and most recently here, where someone in N.J. probably got a good deal at an estate sale.

** NOTE: Based on new information received after this post was made, I’d like to temper the above statements with caution.  There is documentation that suggests this chair is made by Robert Renwick of Baltimore.  Stand by while I look into it.