Larkin Morris Chairs

An identification guide to a few Morris chairs, most particularly those made by or for the Larkin Soap Company, Buffalo, NY 1897 to 1918

Note about the value of antique Morris chairs:

I am often asked what antique Morris chairs are worth. As with any antique, the answer is that they are worth what someone is willing to pay for them. Not helpful,huh? Larkin expert Walt Ayars presents a formula in his book Larkin Oak and I will pass that on here. The presumption from the Ayars Formula is that these chairs, translated into today's dollars, are worth the same amount as when they were made. The basis of the Ayars Forumla is pegged to the amount earned in a week by the average factory worker in the USA. Using the Ayars data, in 1909, the average factory worker made $9.74 per week. An average for factory workers at the beginning of 2010 is about $731. Dividing $9.74 into $731 gives us about 74. Therefore if a Morris chair was made in 1909, the 1909 price should be multiplied by 74 in order to arrive at a price in the dollars of today.

The Larkin Morris chairs from 1909 cost about $5 in 1909 because they were given as a premium for $10 with about $5 worth of soap. Doing the math--never my strong suit-- that would make that $5 Larkin chair worth $370 in today's dollars ($5 X 74= $370.) It may not be a coincidence that this is about what the old ones sell for on ebay or Craig's List these days. Of course, to do this calculation, one has to know the cost of the chair in 1909 or whenever. Looking at catalogs from all over, I would guess that the price range of Morris chairs circa 1909 would be from about $5 to, perhaps, $20 for a very high-end chair. As another price guide, a Larkin morris chair from that era sells for about $1200 fully restored (refinished, reglued, respringedwith new cushions in antique shops around here, Scarborough Maine, in 2010. Other, more high-end Morris chairs (those with lots of carving or bronze hardware, for example) sell in anique shops around here for up to about $2000. I know this may not be much help, but it is the best I can do.

By far, the bulk of this page is currently devoted to Larkin Morris chairs because the available information about them is so extensive. As I find creditable information about other early Morris chair makers, I will add it to this account. As this page evolves, it will, of necessity, be a bit disordered. I trust that if you care about this at all, you will suffer along during what promises to be a very gradual page construction.

The Larkin Soap Company was headquartered in Buffalo, NY. From 1885 to 1941 Larkin offered a wide range of household goods, including furniture. There is quite a bit of information about the Larkin Company on the web and in printed sources. In particular there is an excellent biography of the founder, John D. Larkin written and published by his grandson (Larkin, D.L. [1998] John D. Larkin: A business pioneer, Amherst, NY, Daniel L. Larkin ) For the identification of Larkin Oak furniture and China there are excellent books by Marcy and Walter Ayars (Ayars, M. and W.[1984] Larkin Oak, Echo Publishing, Summerdale, PA; Ayars [1990] Larkin China, Echo Publishing, Summerdale, PA) Larkin Oak and Larkin China are available from the authors: www.waltayars@aol.com

There is a great deal about the Larkin Company that is amazing. A goal of this page is to help anyone to identify Larkin Morris chairs. All of the catalog pictures on this page were sent to me by well-known Larkin expert Walt Ayars. I think these images may be of some general interest because Larkin probably was responsible for hundreds of thousands of Morris chairs. It is difficult to look through a big antique furniture shop without finding several Larkin Morris chairs. It is also a rare day that there is not a Larkin Morris chair or two for sale on ebay. As a disclaimer, I am not a furniture expert or an antique expert. Through my esteem for traditional Morris chairs, I have collected some information and surmised a few additional things. I would be pleased to correct any errors that readers can find.

Among the Larkin chairs, I have restricted myself to those with a Morris chair-type reclining mechanism. This mechanism permits a small number, usually four or five, of discrete reclining angles. For the purposes of this page, I include Larkin chairs that have either the usual Morris chair back racks with loose bar or the Larkin stamped-out steel device pictured directly below. Larkin made other kinds of reclining chairs with other mechanisms but I do not believe that they can be correctly considered to be Morris chairs..

As can be seen below, the history of Larkin Morris chairs between 1897 and 1918 is the story of a few basic models with many changes in identification numbers over the years and a few substantial design and material changes. Walt Ayars has told me that there is evidence that Larkin used the many number changes to track the sales of items back to a particular edition of their catalog. While it is not usually possible to date a Larkin chair to a particular year, I have given its inclusive dates from the catalog pages I have seen.

Larkin Morris chairs often used one of these stamped-out devices as the mechanism for controlling the reclining feature of the chair. There were two types used by Larkin, as far as I know. The one on the left is nickel plated and is a slightly different stamping than the one on the right, which has a burnished copper-like finish. I believe that all chairs with either of these mechanisms are Larkins. An 1893 booklet indicates that it may have been patented. There are also, as you can see below, a few Larkin Morris chairs that, instead, used the more usual type of bar and back racks.

The Larkin stamped-out mechanism bears a passing similarity to a more substantial cast iron Morris chair mechanism shown here at on the right, patented by Frank Mace for the S.A. Cook Co in Medina NY on 27 May, 1902. Much as the stamped-out reclining mechanism seems to be limited to Larkin chairs, this cast iron reclining mechanism perhaps defines a chair as being a product of S.A. Cook and Company. The functional similarity between the Cook and Larkin devices may be accidental but both companies were headquartered in Western New York State and both devices appeared at about the same time.

Another company that produced many Morris chiars was the Royal Chair Company, later the Royal Easy Chair Company. They held patents on many designs that featured a push button to permit the chair to recline. If you want to see some of these, enter some of the numbers on the Royal decal to the left into Google Patents. As far as I can tell, the early chairs had the push button sticking up through the side stretcher, among the spindles. Later it was moved up to the arm of the chair. Sometimes, cleverly, the shaft for the button ran up through a hollow spindle or slat. There were many different designs and shapes for Royal chairs. Some of these have brass tags with the company name, some have decals (as shown here) or paper labels. Some have lost their ID, but so far as I know, if the chair reclines with a push button on the arm or the stretcher, it is a Royal.

At least one of the early Larkin chairs (The Chatauqua 1898 to 1901) has this paper label on the underside of the fame that supports the springs. Most of the rest of the Larkin Morris chairs were not labeled. I am also told that caution should be urged as unscrupulous persons have been known to remove Larkin paper labels and put them on non-Larkin furniture. In the same vein, I have seen Morris chairs that have Larkin parts but also have parts not made by Larkin that were probably married into the chair over the years. Isn't "married" the term used by the Keno Brothers on Antiques Roadshow for Frankenstinian furniture?

1897 Catalog 11: Maybe the first Larkin Morris chair? I have never seen one of these, myself.

1898 Catalog 18 to 1901 Catalog 29. This "Chautauqua" came apart for shipping and is my personal favourite. Of the various Larkin Morris chairs I have seen, it represents the peak of quality. According to a notation in John Larkin's hand on a catalog page from the company headquarters, this chair was made by the Indian River Furniture Company in Philadelphia, NY. Larkin bought these for the wholesale price of $4.00.

1902 Catalog 33. A change in the "Chautauqua." This one does not knock down for shipping. Early models have a fully upholstered back, rather than a loose cushion back. This chair also introduced the stamped ratchet back adjustment in nickel plate shown near the top of this page. This chair is also unusual because on the loose-cushion examples, the back frame contains 6 vertical dowels, instead the more usual horizontal rungs of a ladder-type back. An early Larkin image of this shows this one with an attached and retractable footrest but I have never seen one fitted out in this way.

Early version in 1893 Larkin booklet. Otherwise at least 1904 Catalog 46 to 1910 Catalog 63. One of the most durable Larkin designs, this chair was introduced in a Larkin booklet extolling the virtues of the company in 1900 but may not have appeared in catalogs until 1904. A version of this design that is recognizably similar is in the 1918-1919 Catalog 80.

1904 Catalog 46 to 1908 Catalog 59. The No. 65 was also introduced in a 1900 publicity piece but may not have appeared in catalogs until 1904. Based upon the frequency at which I have seen these in antique shops, homes and on ebay, I think Larkin must have produced thousands of No 65s. The term "improved" refers to the rachet stamped reclining mechanism. On this chair it was finished to appear like burnished copper.

1905 Catalog 48 through 1908 Catalog 59. This unusual Morris chair had back racks and a loose bar as the reclining mechanism, unlike most Larkin Morris chairs.

1908 Catalog 59 to at least 1910 Catalog 63. In 1912-1913 Catalog 68 it lost its casters and was renumbered No 30100. In 1916 Catalog 75 it was renumbered No G30100 and stayed that way until at least 1917-1918 Catalog 78

1907 to 1910. The No. 48 and the No. 58 lost their casters in the 1912-1913 catalog and were renumbered No. 480 and No. 580 at that time. They continued with those numbers through 1915. In 1916 seemingly identical chair frames were in the catalog only they now had "brown Spanish artificial leather" cushions and "invisible sliding casters." At this time they were renumbered Nos. 7280 and 7180 respectively.

1909 Catalog 61 and 1910 Catalog 63.

1910 Catalog 63: At least in 1910 Larkin offered this child's Morris chair. Based upon my observed freqency in shops and on ebay, a child's Morris chair made by Heywood Brothers-Wakefield seems to have been made in larger numbers than this Larkin. The Larkin has notches for the back support bar cut into the rear tops of the arms. It also has two exposed bolt heads on each side stretcher that cannot easily be seen in the image above. The Heywood-Wakefield chair has metal notched back-brackets slung below the backs of the arms for this purpose. These metal brackets are similar to, but not identical to, the ones supporting the back bar on the Larkin 1898 to 1901 Chatauqua Morris chairs.

Below: The Heywood Brothers-Wakefield child's Morris chair. If the paper label is missing from underneath, it might be thought to be a Larkin product. The plywood in the seat seems to be original because the label was on the underside of it.	There is some superficial similarity of front leg shape when the child's Heywood Wakefield chair is compared to the early Larkin (adult-sized) Chautauqua in the picture below. The front stretchers have striking similarity, except for the wings on the shell carving of the Heywood Wakefield.

As can be seen in the picture to the right which compares the cast iron back-racks of the adult Larkin and the child's Heywood Wakefield, the back-racks are functionally the same and have a similar appearance but they are certainly not identical castings.

1912-1913 Catalog 68. What appears to be the same chair appeared in again 1914 in Catalog 71 as Morris Chair No. 1055. As far as I am concerned the gigantic innovation that happened in 1912 in Larkin Morris chairs was the end of the horrible and nasty little wooden casters that quickly wreck wooden floors and tear up carpets.

1914 Catalog 71. This chair also appeared in 1915 in Cataog 73. From 1916 Catalog 75 to 1916-1917 Catalog 76 it was callled an "Adjustable Reclining Chair" No. 156050. The description and picture are identical except that the No.156050 was upholstered in brown or black artificial leather. In 1917-1918 Catalog 78 it was renumbered No. D055.

1912-1913 Catalog 68. This chair also appeared in 1914 Catalog 71 renumbered No. 1155. In Catalog 71, it shared a page with its replacement-to-be, the more rectilinear (and I think much less attractive) No. 2450, shown below.

1914 Catalog 71. The Reclining Rocker No.2450 seems to have been a replacement for the Reclining Chair No 550 (later No 1155) directly above. They are functionally similar. They both have a rounded bottom on the sides, but otherwise the No 2450 looks like a simplified version of the No 550. No. 2450 appeared again in 1915 Catalog 73. In 1916 Catalog 76 it was renumbered No. A2450. In 1917-1918 Catalog 78, it was called the "Big Comfortable Reclining Rocker" and renumbered No. C060. In 1918-1919 Catalog 80 it was again just a "Reclining Rocker" and was renumbered again, this time No. 2854M.

1915 While similar in design to other reclining rockers, the No. 277 only appeared in this year, as far as I know. One of the obvious difference between this and other Larkin reclining rockers is the lack of any spindles or slats under the arms.

1916-1917 The No. 5490 and the No. 5390 seem to replace the earlier No.7280 and No.7180 in the catalog for this year. The overall measurements were the same as the earlier chairs but they were 20 plus pounds heavier than their predecesors in stated shipping weight. Among other things, the front legs appear to be more beefy. In 1918-1919 Catalog 80, these chairs are given enhanced numbers to signify the type of wood: an added "M1" for oak and 'M2" for birch. Further, the description of some of the cushion contents changes from "genuine hair" to goat hair."

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