I would like to see one of these Belter youth chairs in person.  I have a Belter slipper chair and it is diminutive;  I can’t imagine how tiny these chairs made for children would appear.  At 27 3/4″ tall, I could almost walk by it and not notice it in the room.

Don’t be fooled by the size, however.  Although this design is reminiscent of Belter’s moderately carved designs such as the Rosalie, the price tag is many stratospheres beyond.  This chair’s pre-auction estimate is $25,000-$35,000.  I seem to recall a recent Belter youth chair being sold and the price comfortably reaching 5-digits, but I cannot recall which sale and when.

I believe that I have located the current owner - M.S. Rau Antiques, who has been asking $45,000 for the chair before putting it up in the Neal sale.

There is a unique design element on this particular chair - an open book in the crest of the seat back.  It was probably designed for a little fervent reader.  The question I have is, is this a one-of-a-kind chair?  I have never seen one with the book in the crest.

More at the listing.

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I ran into a listing for a Belter “Lincoln” pattern sofa and not having heard of that pattern before, I had to do some research.  It happens that Lincoln had several pieces of Belter furniture in the White House during his time there, some of which had a very simplistic design.

In my brief scouring of books and web information, it seems that the sofa above which I’ve always referred to as “Scroll” or “Simplicity” pattern is not AKA the “Lincoln” pattern as is being put forth in the listing of the above piece.

The “Lincoln pattern” actually has no scrolls and volutes whatsoever as are present on the back of this particular sofa.  You can see the Lincoln pattern (I have also seen the Lincoln pattern referred to as the “Plain” pattern) here.  You can see the chairs in the Lincoln sitting room around 1991 here.

So it appears that there are at least two distinct simple Belter patterns.

The listing for the above sofa is here if you are interested.

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Rare Victorian is please to offer for sale this original 1857 U.S. House of Representatives chair bearing the original stencil of it’s maker, Bembe & Kimbel.  It is identical in style to the chair that Abraham Lincoln favored as his photo chair and the design is depicted in the recently completed Thaddeus Stevens monument.  Only 131 of the Bembe & Kimbel chairs were ever made and it is not clear how many have survived to today.  For more information please continue on to the chair’s sale page.

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