I know of no better place to ask
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"I'll see what I can do with it." For one thing, you could sit on it.
Even given its age, I've never seen them as museum pieces.
On occasion, rather large folks have sat on them and Kay and I used them as props while we had our photography studio.
But if you're willing to pay the insurance, packing and shipping fees, I'd be happy to let you have a look!
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"...I know of no better place to ask" which is a nice comliment to the forum here - thanks!
Hi Ryan - these are so great chairs
and aside from the fact that I'm not an antiques specialist, it's great to have them preserved and to use such precious old family items at all 
I gave the decorations, which I think are the difficult part here, a quick & dirty try using SubD which works fine and pretty fast and I think this could be a way for you? (PS - could you please save down your skp above to a somthing earlier version please?)
[
to send Dave one chair is not a good idea - better is to send ME all the chairs! ]
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@hornoxx said:
"... these are so great chairs
Thank you HornOxx, and your subD example looks like it might be part of the solution.
Here's the file saved back to SU6 so even pilou should be able to open it.
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@cjryan said:
...saved back to SU6 so even pilou should be able to open it
so funny ! -
Several years ago, Dave Richards explained how to model a Greek column capital using (I think) the Curve Maker plugin. It was a post on Fine Woodworking's "Design. Click. Build." blog. That might work if SubD doesn't. I searched the site but couldn't find the post. Maybe Dave can provide a link.
As for researching the history of the chairs, I have three suggestions:
One, the Furniture Study center at the Yale University Art Gallery (https://artgallery.yale.edu/furniture-study). The center specializes in American furniture, but one of the curators may be able to steer you to other resources.Ditto the Henry R. Luce center for American Art at the Metropolitan Museum, in New York City. (metmuseum.org).
Third, call the Furniture Institute of Massachusetts and speak with its founder, Philip C. Lowe. Phil is a master restorer and quite knowledgeable about furniture styles. (http://furnituremakingclasses.com).
Hope this helps.
dh -
David, I wonder if you are thinking of the ascending volute.
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As always, thank you, gentlemen, for the help.
Thank you, davidheim1 for the links to those three resources.
DaveR, I've just finished watching your "Fine Woodworking" video over on youtube. Nice presentation! So thank you also.
I seem to be having a fair degree of success with HornOxx's suggestion of using subD, thanks to his model getting me going in the right direction. So thank you, sir, also!
DaveR, I looked and found no makers marks. I did discover that the original seat was caned. although it's always been upholstered during the 67 years I've known it.
So thanks again!
Chris
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Dave R's blog on the ascending volute is the one I had in mind.
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While I've not had the chance to look into the resources that DavidH gave me.
I have found this https://www.bidsquare.com/online-auctions/ahlers-ogletree/pair-of-jacobean-stained-oak-hall-chairs-17th-c-495968, which suggests that these chairs might be even older than I thought.
I find it hard to believe they could be a hundred years older than I thought.
And compared to these chairs, mine are in pristine condition. -
I think there is one better place to ask....
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Thank you, Liam I will give that a shot.
From perusing the site, I've not seen many requests for furniture as old as what I'm asking. But who knows.
Chris
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