GEORGE III Throne Chair
THE KING OF ENGLAND
AND
THE LAST KING OF AMERICA
THE BEGINNING
The chair was purchased from a furniture restorer in 2006 in Guildford Surrey, who acquired it from a local Auction house (Guildford Auction) in pieces in a box 20 years earlier. The restorer’s wife didn’t like the chair, hence his reason for selling.
Kew gardens (the home of king George III) is situated only 30 miles from Guildford.
The chair was fully restored by expert restorers in 2024, including royal appointed Gold Gilt restorers (By appointment to her Majesty the Queen).
When the chair was broken is unclear, however, it would explain how it came into private hands from a Royal household.
There were some faint scraping marks where the gold gilt was scraped off, likely sold for scrap gold.
In the Georgian era ‘Gold gilt’ was hammered thin using a gold guilt hammer, this made the layers of gold 10 times thicker than modern ‘Rolled’ gold gilt of today.
It was highly conceivable that this is the Chair that King George III was tied to by Dr. Willis, during the King’s alleged madness period? When the chair was damaged it would have been discarded due to the breakage. It is possible that the Footman charged with this duty of disposal of the broken chair may have failed to destroy it, it was likely given away to staff as firewood.
The furniture seller fully restored the chair all from the original parts and sold it to the buyer. The buyer was an antique dealer with some 26 years of experience at the time. Whilst he did not know what the chair was at that time, the beautiful carving and style caught his interest.
The age of the chair was professionally estimated visually at the late 18th century. We have now completed a scientific wood Carbon Dating, by a professional company in Italy. The results placed the date of the wood long before carving and making of the chair. This practice of using old, seasoned wood which will prevent the wood from cracking would only be used for royalty or wealthy people, most of the original wood was 200 years old when made into the chair. Today it is not possible to buy 200-year-old seasoned Walnut. The chair was made certainly before the investiture of King George III as King c1760.
The chair has flat feet designed for uneven floors like flagstone, grass or dirt or wooden floorboards.
George III’s nick name was “Farmer George” as he liked gardening and growing his own vegetables. Such a chair would be ideal for the outside on grass or dirt.