SURVIVOR OF 1940 GERMAN AIR RAID RESTORED VICTORIAN CHESTERFIELD CAPTAINS CHAIR

Description

Royal House Antiques

Royal House Antiques is delighted to offer for sale this stunning, fully restored Victorian Claw & Ball feet, Chesterfield tufted office chair with a unique inscription inside the frame relating to a 30th December 1940 WW2 Air Raid Bombing 

Please note the delivery fee listed is just a guide, it covers within the M25 only for the UK and local Europe only for international, if you would like an accurate quote, please send me your postcode and I’ll provide you with the exact price.

This chair is the definition of Serendipity! It was sold to me for quite a princely sum as being a leather office chair, I then sent it to my leather polisher for restoration and it turned out it was faux leather, we can’t restore or work with faux leather so it was sent to my upholsterer in Brighton to restore it correctly, after removing said faux upholstery, Jonathan made the wonderful discovery of the inscription around the base rails, it reads as follows from the left side to the back and then the right

IF THIS CHAIR COULD SPEAK – IT WOULD TELL YOU A TERRIBLE

STORY OF THE GREAT GERMAN AIR RAID ON

LONDON DECEMBER 30TH 1940 THIS CHAIR PARTLY BURNT WAS

ALL THAT WAS LEFT FROM A LARGE FIRM TOTALLY DESTROYED 

This air raid was known as the second great fire of London, here is an extract I found online relating to it

The Second Great Fire of London in December 1940 was caused by one of the most destructive air raids of the Blitz during World War II. The Luftwaffe raid caused fires over an area greater than that of the Great Fire of London in 1666,leading one American correspondent to say in a cable to his office that “The second Great Fire of London has begun”. Fires started by the raid included an incendiary bomb that broke through the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, which was being guarded by a fire watch team at the behest of the Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

On the night of 29–30 December 1940, approximately 100,000 (mostly small incendiary) bombs fell on the city. The Germans dispatched 136 bombers to the city. Fewer incendiaries were dropped than in the raids of 15 November or 8 December. The raid was focused on a part of the city that contained many non-residential buildings, such as churches, offices, and warehouses. Many of these were locked and were not covered by the Fire Watchers Order of September 1940, which applied to places of work with at least 30 employees, warehouses with an area of 50,000 cubic feet (1,400 m3) and sawmills or timber yards with more than 50,000 cubic feet of timber.

Incendiary bombs were the main armament that night. Moderately small, at 12 by 3 inches (30 cm × 8 cm)—each bomber was equipped with approximately 180 of them—the bombs carried magnesium and started fires. The raid saw 1,500 fires begin in the city.

Firefighters’ efforts were hampered by a water shortage. The primary water-main in the City was bomb-fractured. Units trying to get water from other hydrants caused the water pressure to drop. Efforts to draw water from the River Thames were hampered by the low tide. The fire brigade’s difficulties were further exacerbated by wind, combined with the concentrated area of the attack.

Twelve of the 160 people killed in the raid were firefighters, while 250 were injured.

Artist Leonard Rosoman was serving with the Auxiliary Fire Service on the night of the raid. While fighting a fire in Shoe Lane, Rosoman was relieved of his hose. Moments later a wall collapsed, burying the two firefighters working where Rosoman had just been. The moment haunted Rosoman for the rest of his life. He immortalised the scene in his painting A House Collapsing on Two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London, EC4. William Sansom, a friend of Rosoman’s who would go on to become a novelist and travel writer, survived the incident. The fireman who relieved Rosoman of his hose was killed.

Sam Chauveau of the London Fire Brigade described the scene that faced the fire fighters:

By the time we finished tackling the fires on the roof of the [Stock] Exchange, the sky, which was ebony black when we first got up there, was now changing to a yellowy orange colour. It looked like there was an enormous circle of fire, including St Paul’s churchyard.

And there you have it, quite a torrid night to survive, this chair is an important survivor, I’m sure it will end up in a museum or some other important collection, it is very rare to find genuine WW2 pieces that have seen so much!

Condition wise, as mentioned this chair has been restored from the ground up, the leather upholstery is all new English cattle hide, it has been upholstered plain, hand dyed six times, antiqued, sealed waxed down and polish, the base frame has claw & ball feet which have been hand lightly waxed and polished 

Dimensions:

Height:- 81.5cm 

Width:- 62cm

Depth:- 72.5cm

Seat height:- 48cm

Please note all measurements are taken at the widest point, if you would like any additional or specific measurements please ask.

Any questions please feel free to ask before you bid.    

 

ABOUT US

Royal House Antiques is a privately owned family ran business founded in Wimbledon SW19 and now based in Pulborough RH20. We specialise in finding, restoring very fine luxury antique leather seating, along with every single other type of antique ranging from the 16th century to the 20th century. We also stock a number of designer brands such as Fritz Hansen, Ralph Lauren, Cavalli, Charles & Ray Eames, Vitra, David Linley, Rolex, Tiffany, Jager Le Coulter and so on     

 

PAYMENTS

We accept payment via Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Ethereum, Bacs, Chaps, PayPal or Card, we would kindly ask that all items are paid for within 48 hours and collected within 7 working days, we can hold all paid items for 14 days free of charge, there after a £20 a week storage fee will apply. We have long term storage which is very economically priced, we are happy to hold stock for as long as needed providing it is arranged prior to the purchase 

If sold items aren’t collected within three months and no arrangements have been made for long term storage you will forfeit the item and payment

 

CONDITION

Please view the very detailed pictures as they form part of the description pertaining to the condition. Please also ask any questions before you bid and not after, all of our items are sold as seen and as listed

Royal House Antiques cannot be held liable for any independent assumptions made regarding the items we sell, if you are unsure on any point, please feel free to ask for clarity  

Please note vintage period and original items such as leather seating will always have natural patina in the form of creasing and wear, we recommend annual waxing to ensure no moisture is lost, also hand dyed leather is not recommended to sit in direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time as it will dry out and fade   

 

DELIVERY OR COLLECTION

This item is available for collection from our Pulborough warehouses RH20-1DF by appointment only, alternatively we can have it delivered nationwide to include Scotland, Wales and Ireland for a fee

Please contact me via email, alternatively my contact information is under the business seller section of the listing, with your postcode for a delivery quotation, as mentioned above the fee listed covers with the M25 for the UK, for international deliveries the amount listed covers local Europe only so parts of Belgium and France

Please be sure to include which item you would like to buy as the price is determined on size and distance, if you would like more than one piece of furniture the courier offers a substantial discount on the second and third item, for international shipping please view the below information   

  

COURIER, LARGE ITEMS ONLY THAT CAN’T BE POSTED

We can arrange delivery nationwide, mostly with our nominated couriers, for Europe we use one reasonably priced professional company that we trust, for the rest of the world we use international shippers that can send any size item crated via air freight within 7-14 days after crating or soft packed and container shipped via sea freight within 30-60 days. The time frames outlined are guides only, non-domestic shipping is almost entirely governed by the airlines, sea freight loading times and custom clearances

Whomever delivers will always require help on the larger items to unload, the price you will be quoted will always be based on this assumption, if this is not possible, please let us know as it will affect the price to send a two-person team

Delivery is to the ground floor only, again if you need help upstairs or in flats etc that’s absolutely not a problem, the couriers charge £10-£20 per flight per man per item, if you have a working elevator then naturally there’s no additional fee

All courier fees are paid by yourself directly to the courier company, the contract for delivery is between yourselves the client and whichever courier you chose from those available I’m happy to accommodate your own courier after a cleared payment has been received, they need to book in a collection time with at least 24 hours notice, all collections must be made within 14 working days of the close of the sale unless agreed by prior arrangement  

 

IMPORT DUTY

Most countries charge some kind of import duty however almost all of our items won’t incur any charges as the items are exempt from tax due to the age and materials used

For European deliveries the price you will be quoted will include all clearance documentation and any customs charges so there won’t be any additional fees

For international deliveries such as the United States there can be some import duty to pay and or a clearance fee, I would estimate that 99% of all deliveries clear customs without being stopped for either

All duties are the responsibility of the purchaser who is the importer, they can’t be covered by the seller or shipping agent or factored in with additional retrospective discounts

 

RETURNS

Royal House Antiques offers a no quibble return policy if the item is not as described, if there are any issues with the piece you will be refunded in full once the item has been returned and inspected within 14 days, alternatively if there is a small issue, we can discuss finding a mutual resolution that makes all parties happy

We don’t offer a sale on approval service which means you can purchase the item, have it delivered and if you simply don’t like it, return it, this comes under change of mind or doesn’t fit. There is a lot of time, money and work involved in transporting goods around the world, the costs incurred can be vast so my advice would be if you are unsure on a piece please ask as many questions as you like to make sure you understand everything before you buy, if you are still unsure then please either arrange a viewing in person or if that’s not possible then don’t buy from an online retailer, perhaps look for a local gallery instead