Market for Dragon Chair Is Unknown

WHAT IS IT?

A hand-carved Chinese chair with dragon arms, probably made at the end of the 19th century.

WHAT’S THE LEGEND?

“My mother and father worked for the Canadian government and were selected to represent Canada at the 1915 World’s Fair in San Francisco. They used that trip as a honeymoon,” said Seal Beach resident Doris Young. “They bought this chair while they were there and then took it back to Ottawa. The story was that they bought it on a Chinese boat that was moored at sea because it didn’t have permission to dock in San Francisco. They had to take a small boat out to it to purchase the chair.”

WHAT’S ITS HISTORY?

“I lived in China for over two years,” says Anne Mudgett, owner of the China Source in Costa Mesa. “I’ve never seen anything like this, but I would guess it was made at the turn of the century when items like these were quite popular.”

Curtis Evarts, a specialist in Chinese furniture and former curator of the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture in California, believes it was made in Shanghai or Canton.

WHY IS IT POPULAR TODAY?

There has been a recent renewal in Asian antiques, although more classical styles such as those from the Ming period are the most highly prized and priced.

WHAT’S IT WORTH TODAY?

Evarts says there is no established market value for such pieces.

“If Christie’s or Sotheby’s were to accept the object based on the premise that it was of reasonable quality, it would still be placed in a secondary sale and perhaps be given an estimate of $1,000 to $1,500. A dealer, on the other hand, might eventually find a wealthy client who would pay $5,000 to $10,000 for a ‘dragon throne chair’ and might consider that he got a good deal. Such reflects the attraction, fascination and allurement in the antique market.”

A similar chair was recently seen at a Santa Monica antiques fair with a $5,500 price tag.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?

This particular chair would be difficult to find in any books. For information on Chinese furniture in general, the book “Chinese Domestic Furniture” by Gustav Ecke (1986, Dover Publication, $15.95) is a good source.

For more information, visit https://www.chinese-furniture.com.

* To have an item considered for this column, send information, a photograph of it and a phone number to: What’s It Worth?, Home Design, The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.