I was going to donate this chair to a small, local museum but before I did that, i wanted to do some research on the item. I found this article http://www.chipstone.org/framesetsiteindexp.html which has made me wonder if I am sitting on a very important early piece. The chair resembles the Governor William Bradford chair the most. The chair that I have does not have finials. it is very simple. Has anyone else every seen one of these chairs in real life (other than at a museum)? It does have the numbers III and IIII carved in the chair under the lower front rungs of the chair on the 2" posts. I am wondering if that is an identifying mark of any kind. it's obviously early but I can't find any examples of chairs like this that are not in museum collections. What strikes me is that the arms are turned in the exactly the same place as that of the true Carver Chair. There is also a misbore hole of the back of the chair....which according to the article I read....is a Tinkham "signature" imperfection.
