Hitchcock chairs are True treasures

I have a thing for chairs. I especially love chairs that come in pairs. There is something so companionable about a pair of chairs flanking a reading light, pulled close to a table piled with books, or tucked into a quiet corner of the room.

Over the years, I’ve brought home a pair of mission oak rockers picked up for $10 at a Boy Scout garage sale, a pair of little white “ice cream parlor” chairs from the flea market, and a lovely pair of hand-made chairs painted a soft yellow gold that I found at an antique shop.

I even have a pair of upholstered barrel-back chairs I talked my grandmother into buying for me when we stopped at a garage sale. I was 18 at the time and I begged for them explaining that one day I would have my own home and they would serve me well. And they have. For many years.

So when Marguerite Baldwin called to tell me about how much she loves the pair of authentic Hitchcock chairs that were given to her more than 20 years ago, I knew exactly how she felt.

The Hitchcock chair was the parlor or “fancy” chair in homes in the early to mid-19th century. With their classic country colors and fine craftsmanship, they are true Americana treasures.

Hitchcock chairs were made in Hitchcocksville, Conn., (the name was later changed to Riverton). The distinctive style of the Hitchcock chair, with its painted finish and use of decorative hand-painted motifs, is easily recognized.

Baldwin estimates that her chairs were made somewhere between 1830 and 1860, and she’s thrilled to have them.

“There are fine reproductions out there, made in the same barn and in the way the original Hitchcock chairs were made,” Baldwin said. “But mine are the real thing.”