Jackpot! (on Facebook Marketplace)

Browsing Facebook Marketplace is a weekly, sometimes daily, occurrence for me. Ever since we knew our offer had been accepted and we were under contract, I had been searching for an antique dining set, preferably of the Chippendale or Queen Anne style. I knew we needed something that felt like it tied into the house but would also integrate with our style. Ideally, I wanted a set that was an original or a reproduction of something made during the 17th or 18th century. I’d come close to reaching out to multiple sellers over the course of a year, but I finally hit the jackpot.

Antique Dining Chairs

We reached out to a seller who was selling a set of 6 + 2 bonus “Antique Dining Chairs” for $120. Based on what I knew, they were clearly Chippendale chairs, very pretty but in need of some TLC. They said the “bonus” chairs were bonuses because they were broken.

I shared the situation on our Instagram stories and polled our followers. Nearly 90% said we should jump on these, so we reached out to the seller, organized a truck situation, and scheduled a time to go pick them up.

The Faucet Thrift

When we arrived we learned the seller was a thrift shop owner! We walked in, and there the chairs were. We stood there, looked them over, gave them a stress test, and checked out the “broken” pieces. Seth wasn’t happy with 120$ based on their condition. I’m not a haggler, so I didn’t know what to say. Eventually, Seth said, “What I think would be a good deal is 80 dollars.” The seller said, “Sounds good; let’s not make this any harder than it needs to be,” and we started carrying them outside.

After our inspection, we determined only one chair was broken. The arm of one of the captain’s chairs needed to be reattached. We will need to re-add some wood to it as well, but it’s really not bad. We will also need to do some refinishing, but once you hear about what we learned when we got them home, you’ll understand why these were such an amazing steal!

The Georgetown Galleries

We carried each chair into the house and into the dining room, one by one. We placed them in their respective places in the dining room around an imaginary dining table.

As we were carrying them in, we discovered one of the cushions wasn’t completely attached. Once we got inside, we realized that moving the cushion out of the way revealed a brass plaque that read “The Georgetown Galleries” in a script font, and in smaller text, it read “by Ritter.”

I quickly Googled “The Georgetown Galleries” and came across this article. It detailed everything I wanted to know.

18th Century Furniture

We discovered that The Georgetown Galleries was founded in 1946, experienced rapid growth in the 1950s, and eventually declared bankruptcy in 1963.Their focus was on cherry and mahogany furniture of the 18th century traditional style. Our house was built in the 18th century, so reading this fact made my heart so happy!

The short company history means pieces like ours only pop up from time to time. According to the Vintage Furniture Guide, their pieces are pretty rare. This also made me so, so excited.

Chippendale Chairs

Once I read this article, I wanted to read more and more to learn about these chairs. I really couldn’t find anything more to learn about The Georgetown Galleries, so I looked up Chippendale chairs themselves. I learned there are actually regional Chippendale chair-backs, and the style we particularly have would be considered the “South” style. This aligns with the fact that The Georgetown Galleries were based in Huntington, West Virginia.

We’re located in New England, our particular state actually has its own style of Chippendale chairs, but I feel like my chances of coming across those for the price we just paid for these are like finding a needle in a haystack—and that needle doesn’t even exist. So regardless of that one small detail, I’m still over the moon about this find.

Chippendale South Chairback

What makes these chairs South-style is the shape of the splat and the ears. The splat is the center of the chairback, and the ears are the top corners of the chair back. Our chairs have scrolled ears, which kind of look like a spiral or the top of a “scroll.” The splat is more thin with slightly curved lines compared to other types of chair splats.

Regional Chippendale Chair-Back styles. Credit to Spalding Nix Fine Art

Our chairs also have a crest on the crest rail; it’s kind of indicative of the New York style, but not exactly. This could’ve been something chosen by the craftsmen, or there may be some research I’m missing on that. Either way, it adds even more detail to these beautiful pieces.

Designing the Dining Room

These chairs kick off the design of the dining room. Its current state is the same as when we purchased the house. The wallpaper is not my personal style, and the room needs some TLC. Now that we have these chairs, they will dictate the rest of the room.

The things to tackle in this dining room will be:

• Build a tabletop that fits the room perfectly.
• Take down the wallpaper both on the ceiling and walls.
• Skim coat the walls and ceiling.
• Re-glaze the windows and doors.
• Install a fireplace insert.
• Replace the sconces next to the fireplace.
• Install a chandelier.
• Re-paint the radiator.
• Re-paint or re-wallpaper the walls.
• Purchase any additional furniture.
• Decorate and style the room.
• Have our first dinner on our beautiful Chippendale chairs.

The list will likely grow before we get to the final bullet, but it’s all about the journey, my friends! Stay tuned to see how it all turns out!