NY Federal Chair – Exact Replication

This is an example of exact chair replication, and there is a good story behind this job and picture. Years ago, a client (and now good friend) was building an antique furniture collection for his home and office. Together, we attended an auction at a prominent auction house in New England where we found a set of seven Federal period New York chairs that were ‘miss-labeled’ as something totally different, and were missing one arm chair. For a small amount of money my client purchased the seven chairs knowing that I could replicate the one arm chair. The result is pictured here. The chair on the left is the original, or is it the one on the right?

A few years after making this arm chair, the Gracie Mansion Conservancy commissioned Cherry Brook Woodworks to make 24 chairs based on these chairs for Gracie Mansion in New York City. Check out the Gracie Mansion Chairs and let us know if you’d like to discuss an exact replication project.