What's it worth? Appraisal for Victorian Roman style revival chair

Peggy asks:

Hello again,
                        This is my request for an appraisal (3 of 3).  I bought this chair about 8 years ago from an elderly lady that was downsizing her home/furnishings before moving.

She said it was a Biltmore chair and I had never heard the term before.  Later,  in a book on the Biltmore Estate in SC, I saw a similar styled chair.  I have no idea of it’s value, I bought it for it’s uniqueness.

  It has several coats of paint, the  last being the gold and white.  there is a dark green under this and I think I even see black under the green.  I think the top curved edges are roughly cut, you can see ridges every 1/8 inch on the edges, I thought possibly from a saw?  I have no idea if an electric saw was used or could it be a handsaw? 

All the areas where wood meets (as in the seat area) are very smooth and tight.  I am considering stripping the chair back to it’s natural wood but I have no idea what that would be.

  Thank you for any info you can provide.

  Peggy

 

  AW says:  Hello Peggy, the chair you have is a Victorian era (circa late 1800s) copy of a Roman Empire chair.

The saw marks are mad by a machine saw. The name Biltmore chair, refers to the estate which this style of chair was used to furnish, rather than the chair name itself. Of course it’s tough to say what wood this is made out of since it’s painted, but most of these that I’ve found are in Mahogany.

If you decide to re-finish it, do so for your own satisfaction as you will not likely get paid well for your time if you are doing the work on this to resell it.

Retail value: $125

Wholesale: $65

Quick Sale: $35

Keywords = Victorian era, Roman Empire style, Roman chair, shabby chic