Appreciation
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday June 3, 1998
THE English antique balloon-back dining chair has long been a saleroom staple. Four, six or eight balloon-backs and a nice credenza or sideboard around a good mahogany table constitutes what many see as the epitome of the antique dining setting.
You'll find similar settings from one end of Sydney to the other - in homes from the inner city to Pymble, Sylvania and Penrith.
The balloon-back is perhaps the most widely recognised "antique" there is, and its price has long been indicative of the overall state of the market. A good set of balloon-backs is often regarded as a significant investment.
But the antique balloon-back is becoming an endangered species. And the threat, it seems, is coming largely from Indonesia.
The distinctive design dates from around 1840, though because of its popularity the chair has continued to be made well into the 20th century. It is so called because the back "balloons" up-wards and outwards from the rear legs, with curved side supports flowing up into a semi-circular top rail.
The shape does not lend itself to additional arm rests, so you don't find "carvers".
Usually these chairs are made of mahogany, a timber with the lightness and strength to permit such a flowing design. But some come in walnut or rosewood; occasionally they're found in Australian cedar or blackwood.
Some are plain; others have carving to the curved back or the central cross rail, or both. Some have detachable drop-in seats, others have stuffed seats where the upholstery is nailed to the wooden chair frame.
The front legs are usually "turned" or shaped on a lathe, and sometimes fluted. Back shapes vary. On some, the central rail is curved sharply so as to create a circle with the top. On others the upper back rail dips in the middle, though these are usually known as saddle-backs.
The trademark oval back is both the chair's most distinguishing feature and its biggest drawback, its weakest point. The top rail is jointed to each side support, usually with a dowel peg and glue, and these joints fail.
Re-glueing them is no particular problem. Unfortunately, the back can also snap off at one or both joints, splitting the adjoining timber. This can be repaired too, but can cost $150 to $200 and affects the value of the chair.
Jim Kelaher, of Leichhardt auctioneers Raffan and Kelaher, says you rarely see a good set of Victorian balloon-backs that haven't been broken and repaired. His firm has been operating for more than 20 years and hammers about 85,000 lots a year, much of it furniture and bric-a-brac which goes to the trade.
"They're a lovely chair, but are extremely fragile and they've been virtually replaced by reproductions," Mr Kelaher says.
And fragility is a problem in an age when the chairs' occupants become increasingly better fed, larger, and heavier. Yet in Britain they're worth good money, as are most quality antiques.
"For a single balloon-back in England now they're paying #120 ($312) to #150 on the basis they can match it up to make a bigger set," he says. Sets of chairs - especially larger sets such as eight or 12 - always fetch a premium price.
With the current strong pound, Mr Kelaher says, that means a chair costs a basic $400 landed here. A quick browse through recent editions of Carter's Price Guide confirms that sets of balloon-backs are priced from about $400 a chair.
But it seems Australians are becoming reluctant to pay $1,600 to $2,000 - perhaps more - for a matching set of four, especially given the frailty of these chairs. Instead, they opt for modern reproductions - most of which come from Indonesia - at about $100 apiece. And if one breaks you can buy another off the shelf.
The reproductions are in an Asian variety of mahogany, often as well made as the originals, and with modern glues are more likely to stay together for a few years.
But you wouldn't really mistake a repro for an original, Mr Kelaher says. The new chairs are dark coloured and the carving is not always good. They certainly don't have that antique patina - the glow of aged, wax-finished timber. "They're nothing like as mellow," he says.
He says that 10 years ago Aust-ralians would pay $400 to $500 a chair for a set, thinking that in the longer term they could resell for more. But the last set of six balloon-backs he sold fetched only $240 each, although they needed a little work.
So some people may be disappointed when they try to sell their chairs at a modest profit compared with what they paid 10 or 20 years ago.
Clearly, the demise of the Australian dollar against the English pound - the collapsing Aussie is currently worth only about 38 pence compared with about 48p just a few months ago - has helped push up the balloon-back's price and lost it support.
As well as the balloon-back's fragility and relatively high cost, it's gone a little out of fashion. Mr Kelaher says since the recession of 1989-91 there has been a shift to more informal decorating and dining.
Nor is the balloon-back the only type of furniture to shed some of its status, he says - much the same is happening to the antique toilet mirror, chaise longue and grandfather chair.
For dining chairs it seems many auction buyers instead opt for something sturdy and practical, such as oak or maple chairs from the turn of the century through to the 1930s, matching the age of many Sydney homes.
UPCOMING AUCTIONS
Swan Murray & Hain: colonial and associated wares (Tocal, near Maitland) ... June 7, 8
Dalia Stanley: furniture, decorative arts ... June 14
Phillips: furniture, decorative arts, paintings ... June 15
Christie's: Art of the Samurai (London) ... June 15
Goodmans: European, Russian, Tibetan decorative art, paintings ... June 16, 17
Lawsons: books, maps and prints ... June 22
Dalia Stanley: Aust and European art ... June 28
Sotheby's: Aboriginal paintings ... June 29 (Mel)
AUCTION RESULTS
Aust 1935 sixpence, uncirculated, $2,915, Noble Numismatics
Aust 1934 Melbourne Mint proof set, uncirculated, $14,410, Noble Numismatics
Aust cedar secretaire chest by Raphael c1870 (altered), $3,300, Raffan and Kelaher
Aust cedar D-end single-leaf extension table on turned legs, Raphael c1870, $4,950, Raffan and Kelaher
Silver and green glass wine jug 34cm high designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty, #26,450 ($68,000), Phillips (London)
© 1998 Sydney Morning Herald