19th Century English Leather Armchairs, Set of 2

This is an absolutely magnificent pair of antique English solid walnut library armchairs, circa 1880 in date. Each with a beautiful hand carved cresting rail, the backs, seats and arms upholstered in sumptuous leather, the arms on spindle supports and on turned front legs terminating in the original brass castors. The brown leather is truly striking and in excellent condition, these armchairs are of a quality that would be very difficult to find today and the solid walnut has wonderful hand carved decoration. Provenance: Barcote Manor, Buckland, Oxfordshire. Barcote Manor was built in 1876 as a hunting lodge for Lady Theodora Guest, a daughter of the Duke of Westminster. In 1881 it was sold to William West, a Director of the Great Western Railway who named a Manor Class locomotive after the house. The West family lived in the house for 70 years, when the house was sold to the Mercantile Bank of India and later become the Barcote School of Coaching. Walnut The Walnut woods are probably the most recognizable and popular of all the exotic woods, having been used in furniture making for many centuries. Walnut veneer was highly priced and the cost would reflect the ‘fanciness’ of the veneer – the more decorative, then the more expensive and desirable.