The first Morris chairs were manufactured in England by the William Morris Co. around 1866 and were the first known reclining chairs produced. Later, furniture makers like Gustav Stickley copied Morris’ design, and the Stickley furniture company continues to manufacture them today. Because of their clean lines and Mission style, Morris chairs were a popular choice during the Arts and Crafts movement in the early 1900s and today are equally at home in traditional as well as contemporary decors. As with any antique, a Morris chair's value is based on age, condition and history. Step 1Research Morris chairs. Books like “Stickley Brothers Furniture Identification and Value Guide” by Larry Koon are a good place to start. Web sites like Kovels can be helpful in establishing a going price. Talk with antique sellers and collectors of Arts and Craft or Mission style furniture.Step 2Inspect the chair. Chairs made from about 1895 to 1914 were more ornate, boasting curved legs and feet. These early examples are worth more due to their style and rarity.
Later Morris chairs, like those manufactured during the Arts and Crafts movement, were heavier and simpler. They had wide paddle-like arms, plainly crafted legs and square slats supporting the back and arms. An antique chair will show signs of wear. The upholstery, if it hasn’t been replaced, may be worn through in spots. A leather covering will be cracked and will have a patina that comes only from years of wear. The arms will look smoother and more worn where a person rested his hands. If the chair doesn't show normal signs of wear, it may be a comtemporary Morris chair or it may have been refinished, making it worth less than a true antique chair.Step 3Look for labels and tags. Many furniture companies marked their chairs with identifying labels, tags and decals. While not all of these survived the years, finding one can help calculate the chair's value.Step 4Look online at auction sites like eBay to see what the average asking price of Morris chairs is and then check back to see what the chairs actually sold for.
Visit antique shops and shows to see what dealers are hoping to get. A 1902 Gustav Stickley Morris chair with the original finish, cushions and authentic Stickley label recently sold for over $46,000. This is a rare find. More common Morris chairs of the early 1900s have been appraised at around $3,000.Step 5Consult an expert. An appraiser will give you her professional opinion as to the worth of your chair based on condition, age and manufacturer’s marks, if any. If you know the history, or provenance, of the chair, that will add to its authenticity as well as its value.We offer a great selection of American made, solid wood Morris chairs, recliners and accent chairs. handcrafted by Amish builders using only the finest materials. We also offer a large selection of your choice of fabrics and leathers and can also custom create a chair for your specific needs. View our Sofa's and Loveseats View our Rocking ChairsAntique Morris Rocking Chair Rare Exclusive Limited Time Decorators Winter SALE From 1200.00 Amazing Style HIGH Quality Piece
This is an Antique Classic Morris Rocking chair; it features solid Oak Wood with an attractive wood grain. The chair has high back and large curved arms for comfort and beautiful turned spindles below the arm. The rocking Chair has just been upholstered in a Luxurious burgundy Mohair Fabric; it has a new firm seat with back support and ultra-comfort. The back of the chair has wooden slats that adjust using the bar and decorative brass latches for slight reclining, it has two carved paw feet in front. The brand New Mohair Material is amazing. Mohair fabric is amazing luxurious silky fabric one of the oldest textile fibers in the world, made from Angora. This fabric it is exceptionally durable, very resilient, has a sheen to it , adapts to a comfortable temperature, it will keep you warm in the winter yet cool in the summer, also has other incredible properties including flame resistant, crease resistant and is nick named the Diamond fiber. This is a high end material but worth every penny to offer the best original fabric for antiques, quality, durability, beauty and comfort.
The Morris rockers are hard to find and they are such great pieces to have very solid. See our macro detailed photos for the best description and condition. Condition: Very Good, Fabric is brand new and foundation, wood in great shape, slight red mark on one claw, and the right side is missing a spindle Measurements: Chair 40” Tall x 30” Side Seat 20 “Tall from floor to seat x 21 x 21 Wide We Offer Free Pick -Up, Shipping is not included in the price of this item. Pieces are available for free pick up. However, if shipping is required, shipping is the sole responsibility of the buyer to arrange for pickup, insurance and shipping. See our shipping pages for more options if you don't have a preferred shipper.Patchwork Y QuiltingQuilting RoomPatchwork IdeasPatchwork StuffQuilting ColorsFabrics QuiltingPatchwork CushionQuilts 3Grandma GliderForwardI am always seeing these gliders at thrift stores but have never thought about… Recently constructed version of the Morris Chair
A Morris chair is an early type of reclining chair. The design was adapted by William Morris's firm, Morris & Company, from a prototype owned by Ephraim Colman in rural Sussex, England. It was first marketed around 1866. Morris chairs feature a seat with a reclining back and moderately high armrests, which give the chair an old-style appearance. The characteristic feature of a Morris chair is a hinged back, set between two un-upholstered arms, with the reclining angle adjusted through a row of pegs, holes or notches in each arm. In other instances, the reclining of the back is controlled by a metal bar set in hooked back racks. The original Morris chair had dark stained woodwork, turned spindles and heavily decorated upholstery, in typical Victorian style. The chair was widely copied after Morris' introduction, and is still manufactured. The appearance and style of upholstery is usually quite different from Morris's, but the overall layout is constant. There are two rather distinct types of these chairs.
One type, called the "traditional" Morris chair evolved in America evolving directly from the Morris original. It often features carving and serpentine shapes. These chairs were produced in the hundreds of thousands from about 1890 to 1930 in versions ranging from affordable to very high-end. At the low price end, these chairs were sold by The Larkin Soap Company and other large firms such as Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. The more expensive chairs were those made by Horner and other exclusive furniture makers. The other style of Morris chair is called the "Mission" or the "Craftsman" Morris chair. The best known examples are those were first produced by Gustav Stickley[2] in 1904 and then widely copied afterwards. These are in the American Craftsman idiom, rather than English Arts & Crafts styles. Woodwork is lightly finished and largely undecorated oak in rectangular sections. Upholstery comprises unframed cushions in brown leather, or green or brown fabric. The Craftsman or Mission style of Morris chair is often thought of as a Stickley design named in homage to Morris, rather than an original Morris piece.
As with all Stickley, these chairs are keenly collected today and originals fetch several thousands of dollars. Given the seemingly staid nature of the Morris chair itself, it may seem odd that there is recurrent mention of the Morris chair in popular song lyrics indicating its romantic and erotic use: The chair is mentioned prominently in the Irving Berlin song "You'd Be Surprised" as follows: Additionally, the Morris chair is mentioned in another Irving Berlin song, "All By Myself", published in 1921, as well as in the song "My Honey's Lovin' Arms" (1922), by Joseph Meyer: or, as Barbra Streisand sang in her recording of the song: It is mentioned also in the World War I patriotic song: "If he can fight like he can love, good night Germany" (words by Grant Clarke and Howard E. Rogers, Music by George W. Meyer) The Morris chair appears in the song, "Oh, Sister! Ain’t That Hot!" verse 2: The Morris chair appears as a luxury item in the 1924 Abner Silver/Sam Coslow song "I Ain't Got Nobody to Love":
On February 6, 1932 Jimmie Rodgers recorded "Home Call" in Dallas, Texas The Morris chair appears in a song that anticipated the era of alcohol prohibition (1920-1933), "You Don’t Need the Wine To Have a Wonderful Time (While They Still Make Those Wonderful Girls) (Music by Harry Akst, lyric by Howard E. Rogers), published in 1919 and introduced by Eddie Cantor, in live performance, in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 (recorded in "Ziegfeld follies of 1919," 33 RPM vinyl disk, [Washington, D.C.] : Smithsonian Collection, published, 1977): It is also mentioned in the Three Stooges short film, Rockin' thru the Rockies (release date March 8, 1940), when Curly claims, "I once shot a Morris chair from underneath Sitting Bull." An early mention of a Morris Chair is in Jack London's novel 'Martin Eden' (1909), Chapter 31: “He finally isolated himself in the midst of the company, huddling into a capacious Morris chair …” In Sinclair Lewis's novel 'Babbitt' (1922), Chapter 8 - III, the title character lists it as a perk of a disdained educational elite who “blows his father's money and sits around in Morris chairs in a swell Harvard dormitory with pictures and shields and table-covers and those doodads . . .”
In an autobiographical essay, in One Writer's Beginnings, Eudora Welty talks about a Morris chair being in her parents' library in the house she grew up in in Mississippi. In his novel East of Eden (1952) John Steinbeck mentioned a Morris Chair as a new piece of furniture in Adam Trasks home at Salinas. A Morris Chair is mentioned in Kurt Vonnegut's short story Lover's Anonymous published in his collection of short stories, Bagombo Snuff Box. Bullwinkle J. Moose explains “... you sit happily in your Morris Chair ...” in the “Mr. Know-It-All” segment of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Season 2, episode 3 (1960). Pearl S. Buck, in her novel, The Time is Noon, (1966) wrote, “He was sitting in his old Morris chair by a small dying wood fire, his hands folded in his lap.” And again, “But he was not writing. He was sitting as he always did in his old Morris chair, drawn close to a small, neatly piled fire in the grate.” It is also mentioned in Dan Brown's novel “The Lost Symbol”, released on September 15, 2009.