Barber S ChairsBarber Chairs Poles Signs EtcBarber LoungeBarbershop ChairsBarber PolesThe BarbershopBarbershop QuartetBarber BitsAntique Barber SForwardvintage barber chair - its on my "must own one day" list! A barber chair in a recreation of J. N. Hooper's Barber Shop (Seattle, WA circa 1880s) at the Museum of History and Industry A barber chair is a chair for customers to a barber or hairdresser. The chairs usually have adjustable height (with a foot-operated jack or a hand-operated lever on the side). It can also rotate, or lean backwards (for hairwashing and shaving). They are normally made from metal and leather and are usually rather heavy. On the low end for cheaper barber chairs, the cost can be around $500, whereas higher-end barber chairs with more advanced features like adjustable headrests and leg rests, reclining capabilities and more sturdy building materials typically cost up to $2500. In 2015, barber chairs being used as decoration in a restaurant in Phoenix.
Barber chairs in engravings from the Civil War era share many features with modern chairs, including high seating, upholstery, and a footrest.[1] The first factory-manufactured chairs date to around 1850.[1] The first one-piece reclining barber chair with an attached footrest was patented in 1878[2] by the Archer Company of Saint Louis.[3] Archer quickly followed it with a chair that raised and lowered mechanically. Eugene Berninghaus of Cincinnati improved on Archer's design with the first reclining and revolving chair, the Paragon.[1] Theodore Koch of Chicago incorporated all of these innovations into his chairs, selling more than 35,000 chairs in the period before 1885. In 1897, Samuel Kline (of the Kline Chair Company)[4][5] patented a chair[6] and filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Theodore Koch in 1905 (but was overturned).[7] In 1904, Kline filed a patent for an "adjustable chair" which was granted in 1907. Barack Obama's bulletproof glass-encased barber chair at Hyde Park Hair Salon in Chicago
In 1900, Ernest Koken, a German immigrant, created a hydraulic-operated chair and also patented the "joystick" side lever, which allowed a barber to control all the mechanical functions. In the late 1950s, US-based barber chair manufactures sold about 10,000 chairs a year to the 100,000 barber shops.[9] Chicago-based Emil J. Paidar Company was a leading manufacturer of barber chairs in the late 1950s (Belmont and American Barber Chair Company from 1948 to 1956 whose chairs were spinoffs of the Koken chair).[] Starting in 1957, Belmont joined Osaka,[] Japan's Takara Belmont Company began importing almost exact duplicates of Paidar chairs—at 20%-30% less cost.[9] In June 1969 Takara purchased the Koken Barber Chair building and production equipment in St. Louis Mo and in 1970 they purchased the Koken name, trademarks and patents this purchase was the main reason that by 1970, Takara had 70% of the US market, beating out Paidar who once held the same amount. One-chair or single-chair barbershops are small, usually independent, barbershops that have only one barber chair available to customers.
This is an older tradition in the barbering business that is slowly fading out as the last generation of barbers begins to retire and few younger barbers step up to fill the roles. One-chair barbershops serve one customer at a time and provide a one-on-one barber experience, whereas multi-chair barbershops serve many clients at once and get clients in and out faster, so they can make more money by serving more clients concurrently. Some salons have also incorporated the single-chair barbershop model into their businesses. ^ a b c d e f Do bald men get half-price haircuts?: in search of Americas' great barbershops, Vince Staten, Simon & Schuster, 2001, p. 95, 176pp, ISBN 978-0-684-86745-8 (retrieved 16 August 2010 from Google Books) ^ 1873 according to patent #D6648, DESIGN FOR BARBERS AND DENTISTS CHAIRS, George W. and Robert W. Archer, issued 13 May 1873 (retrieved 17 August 2010 at Google Patents) ^ a b Where Men Hide, James B. Twitchell, Ken Ross; Columbia University Press, 2008, pp. 110-1, 248pp, ISBN 978-0-231-13735-5 (retrieved 16 August 2010 from Google Books)
^ Advertisement, The Barbers' Journal, Volumes 13, Number 1, Journeymen Barbers' International Union of America, January 1902 (retrieved 2 September 2010 from Google Books) ^ Genealogical and Personal Memorial of Mercer County, New Jersey, Volume 1, Francis Bazley Lee (editor), Lewis Publishing Company, 1907, p. 292-3 (retrieved 2 September 2010 from Google Books) ^ Design for a chair, Samuel Kline, patent #D26623, filed 20 October 1896, granted 9 February 1897 ^ Kline Chair Co. v. Theo. A Kochs & Son et al., The Federal Reporter: Cases argued and determined in the circuit and district courts of the United States, Volume 138, West Publishing Company, 1905 (retrieved 2 September 2010 from Google Books)> ^ Adjustable chair, Samuel Kline, patent #862565, filed 20 July 1904, granted 6 August 1907 ^ a b c Japan: The Great Barber-Chair Coup, Time, 10 August 1970 (retrieved 17 August 2010) ^ History of the One-Chair BarbershopKoken Salesman's Sample Brings $51,750
Fairfield, Maine, auctioneer James Julia, who has set and flirted with record-setting prices in a number of categories in recent years, was at it again in Session IV of a full weekend of auctioneering at Byfield, Massachusetts, on November 21, 1999. An 1895 Koken salesman's sample hydraulic barber chair had bidders in a lather over a phenomenal $51,750 (including buyer's premium) top bid. This legacy of the noted St. Louis barber supply firm proved by far Julia's most passionately pursued of top-shelf entries that also embraced penny scales, Coca-Cola trays, syrup dispensers, and assorted toys. Only 15 inches high and possibly unique, the fully reclining carved mahogany sample was embellished with nickel-plated hinges, an overstuffed black leather seat, a copper footrest, and a mahogany pedestal base. next lot, another elusive Koken sample in wood, was a less elaborate specimen with adjustable headrest and reclining chair. Were it not missing part of its reclining
mechanism, this forerunner to the more frequently seen Koken porcelain chair samples would undoubtedly have brought more than its top price of $5750. In Julia's April 1999 antique advertising and toy sale a Koken porcelain chair sample brought $48,875. Dave Rose, a Toronto collector, prevailed at that sale and was the very same top bidder on the Koken hydraulic sample in this sale. Other intriguing salesman's samples in Lilliputian scale included an 1896 patented 7 1/2 inches Bicycle clothes ringer at $805 (est. $300/500); an 11 inches high farm silo, alsoand a 21 inches long horse-drawn fertilizer spreader that caused a number of furrowed brows at $977.50 (est. $300/500). Julia staged Part II of the late Red Meade's collection of vintage coin-op floor model and countertop scales, the first segment having weighed in with hefty prices in their AprilA superb Rosenfield Reliance scale, one of only four known and the sole example with original marquee, topped off at $11,500 (est. $15,000+).
Bringing top dollar among the scales at $14,950 (est. $8000/10,000) was an elusive 5? I Speak Your Weight talking scale that had an internal half-revolution phonograph mechanism that had proven too delicate, causing the machines to be withdrawn from use. Vintage soda fountain items continue to be one of Julia's biggest draws. syrup dispenser with onyx ball handle that stood 34 1/2 inches tall with brass Hires nameplates on all sides lived up to its name at $6325. Hires also hit the spot at $17,250 (est. $20,000/30,000) with a Mettlach hinged-lid pitcher depicting an older, rather foppish Hires boy as logo. Dispensers from other root beer makers included Buckeye with dancing centaurs encircling the base at $2990, and Scott's with an 11 inches high barrel-shaped dispenser in red and blue on stark white at $4255 (est. $800/1600), the same price extracted a few lots later by the top Ward's citrus dispenser, a Ward's Lime Crush (est. $1750/2500).
Orange Crush entries by Ward's each brought a zesty $2530. A circa 1910 figural Cherri Bon entry in bright cherry red with reverse white embossingEven a missing pump and a rim chip could not dampen enthusiasm over a handsomely embossed Chero Crush syrup dispenser, circa 1910, which sold at $6900 (est.A gilt-trimmed circa 1900 Liquid Force dispenser representing planet Earth, with embossed continents in subdued pastels, excelled at $6037.50. An intriguing mini-collection of several dozen glass straw holders included a paneled peach colored entry at $517.50; a green paneled entry with a 1915 patent date at $546.25and a clear glass ice cream cone holder with multiple insert at $747.50 One of the most charming throwbacks to the Victorian era, a bow-legged ice cream parlor table with four attached pivoting seats and glass display case top served up $4025 (est. Sale coordinator Irene Bolduc acknowledged, "The great thing about Coca-Cola advertising, there's something for everyone.
Regardless of your collecting level, plenty of Coca-Cola examples are still available." Especially at Julia's where a stash of recently discovered virtually mint material has been meted out in recent outings. sure, a cardboard calendar top lithograph of a Victorian woman gazing at a sparkling glass of Coke brought a bubbly $7475. A tiny (4 1/2 inches x 6 inches) oval tip tray of a woman with the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair skyline in the background fetched $977.50 a few lots later. A stash of new old stock 12 inches cardboard holly-fringed Coca-Cola Christmas bell die-cut door hangers were still bell ringers, decking the halls at $2530 (est. $3000/4000). Arguably the most underrated among some 85 vintage paper and tin advertising signs at Julia's were a pair of Hoffman House Bouquet Cigar lithographs by Joseph Knapp Co., NewAn 1893 (not 1912 as cataloged) image of the main lobby of Manhattan's Hoffman House Hotel included at least a dozen concocted images of the era's power brokers,
including President Grover Cleveland, Senator Chauncey DePew, Buffalo Bill, actor Tony Pastor, and president of the cigar firm, Max Hilson, himself. This vibrant period piece is acknowledged in Mary Black's book of the Bella C. Landauer collection at the New-York Historical Society as one of the most remarkable posters of the 19th century. original gessoed Hilson Company frame and with minor water staining, it went quickly at The second Hoffman House entry, a stone lithograph, depicted the legendary hotel's posh dining hall with both Grover Cleveland and William McKinley at the banquet table and soldAlas, someone framed the print so it had direct contact with the glass, and portions of the print had adhered to it. It is hoped that the price will allow latitude for the new owner to properly restore this beauty. One of the more feverishly pursued entries, a rather faded, fly-specked framed Bradley Fertilizer Co., Boston, cloth banner of an Indian chief standing tall in a cornfield
exuded charm at $2185 (est. $250/500). The familiar Charles W. Shonk Company faux oil on canvas Baker's Chocolate trademark image of a colonial waitress bearing a tray of hot cocoa, with repair and touchup to the oilcloth, in ornate gilt frame, managed $3450, respectable, but considerably below theMeanwhile, as if frozen in time, a classic Grape-Nuts self-framed tin sign of a little girl with a St. Bernard, rated very good to excellent, sold at $2760, about par with its asking price back in the 1980's. One of the sale's most beguiling items, a genie carnival character emerging from Aladdin's lamp, 21 inches high, was hotly pursued to $3162.50. There were those toy devotees in the crowd who felt perhaps they'd rubbed the genie the wrong way, as any number of entries soared out of reach. Tops among the mechanical banks were a Kyser & Rex Boys Stealing Watermelons at $3737.50 and a Shepard Artillery Bank with the more common Union cannoneer at $1150.