Monday, September 22, 2008

Update Re: Salvation Army Chair

A few posts ago I wrote about the desk chair I picked up at Salvation Army...


I also wrote about wanting to paint it, but feeling guilty since it looked to be pretty old. Well, over the weekend I tried to find out more about the chair and started looking for any markings or stamps on it. Anything to help determine its age.

At first, the only thing I found were the numbers "1231" painted on the bottom of the chair. I was about to give up when I noticed a small plaque attached to the back of the seat. It reads: "Property of Defense Plant Corporation an Instrumentality of the United States Government."
Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't paint this?

From what I can gather from a few google searches, the Defense Plant Corporation was utilized during WWII to help manage the construction of plants used for the manufacture of boats, airplanes, etc. during the war. I can't find very much info on the Defense Plant Corp. at ALL. Anyone out there a history buff? Or happen to know anything about Defense Plant Corporation?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's such a gorgeous chair, I really hope you don't paint it!

Christopher Busta-Peck said...

From what I can tell of your photograph, and from the color, which doesn't seem consistent with what I would expect, I wonder if someone else already repainted the chair. In this case, there's no harm to another coat of paint.

The style looks very very familiar, though my knowledge of American furniture of that period is not sufficient to be able to name a maker. Suffice it to say that I'm virtually certain that I've seen several, and that the chair was probably made by a major manufacturer.

Anonymous said...

That is a Sikes or Sykes chair. They produced functional furnitures for offices and goverment departments as well as home furnishings. I have one like yours from our local courthouse. Mine had a small medal marker/label that gave me enough info to begin my search. You can google and find much and check out this website: http://sikes-sykesfamilies.rootsweb.com/chairs-8.htm

Jason and Heather said...

Dont paint it!! It looks a bit darker than mine but it's still great just like it is. I have one exactly like it for my desk in the Study.