Set of 8 Chairs
Eight chairs sold as one lot, nearly always a dining set, made up so a table could be seated in matching order.
Set of 8 Chairs
A set of eight is a dining set in almost every case: 'dining' appears in 577 of 693 titles on Sellingantiques. The usual make-up is six single chairs plus two carvers, spelled out in dozens of titles as '6+2' or 'six singles and two carvers'. Matching long sets became a requirement of the formal dining room from the 18th century onward, made in graduated numbers, and sets of eight with two open-arm chairs at the ends were turned out in quantity by cabinetmakers and later by large furnishing firms.
The version you'll meet most often is mahogany, named in 271 titles, in one of the 18th-century revival patterns: Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Queen Anne and Sheraton all recur, along with shield backs and ribbon backs. Roughly half the category sits in this polished hardwood group, with walnut and rosewood alongside the mahogany.
A large minority are country and kitchen chairs in native timbers. Oak runs to 114 titles, with elm, ash, rush seats, ladder backs, spindle backs and Windsor forms, and regional types named with unusual precision: Lancashire and Cheshire spindlebacks, Welsh farmhouse chairs, Thames Valley stick backs, East Anglian elm. Smaller groups cover Victorian and Regency balloon, bar and rope backs, and Arts and Crafts or early 20th-century oak.
Dates run 1800 to 1950, but only 341 listings carry a clean year. The commonest single period entry is a broad '19th Century', with Regency, Victorian, Edwardian and 18th Century labels together outnumbering the decade-precise ones. Where decades are given, the weight sits late: the 1920s, 1900s and 1910s lead. A pattern name is not a date, and titles such as 'George I Design Oak Dining Chairs c.1900' say so plainly.
What Separates Them
The first question is whether the eight began life together. Titles draw the line themselves: 'a good true set of eight' and 'sequentially numbered' at one end, 'harlequin set of eight', 'matched set' and 'assembled set of eight Windsor armchairs' at the other. Eight listings call themselves harlequin outright, so a stated set of eight isn't always eight chairs from one original order.
Timber does most of the rest. Beech, beechwood-and-ply, plain oak and pine sit at the bottom of the range; burr walnut, burr yew, burr elm, flamed mahogany, satinwood and rosewood sit at the top. Burr yew Windsor armchairs appear as a set of eight only once in the whole sample, and near the very top.
Decoration and date of making pull in the same direction. Carving and inlay are named in a minority of titles, and 'brass inlaid', 'marquetry', 'profusely carved', 'gilded' and 'ribbon back' show up only in the upper part of the range. Period chairs sit above later copies of the same pattern: 'Hepplewhite period mahogany' reads differently from 'Hepplewhite style', and 'style' runs through the lower and middle range. A named workshop or firm, or 'in the manner of' phrasing, clusters in the upper half.
Set of 8 Chairs Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for set of 8 chairs, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
Waring of London is the name that turns up from the most dealers on Sellingantiques in this category.
Waring & Gillow
The Set of 8 Chairs Glossary
- 6+2
- The usual make-up of a set of eight: six single chairs and two carvers. Dozens of titles use the shorthand.
- Carver
- The open-armed chair placed at the head of the table. A set of eight normally has two.
- Single chair
- A side chair without arms, the six that fill the sides of the table.
- Harlequin set
- Eight chairs of the same type but not all from one original set. 'Matched' and 'assembled' do similar work.
- Balloon back
- A rounded, waisted back outline, common on Victorian dining chairs and recurring through the sampled titles.
- Faux rosewood
- A cheaper timber grained to imitate rosewood, noted on Regency sets in this category.
Set of 8 Chairs: Frequently Asked Questions
How many chairs in a set of eight have arms?
Two, in the standard make-up. Six single chairs plus two carvers is the composition spelled out in dozens of titles as '6+2' or 'six singles and two carvers'.
The carvers are the open-armed chairs for the ends of the table, and they're usually a little wider in the seat than the singles.
What timber are they usually made from?
Mahogany leads, named in 271 of 693 titles, with oak next at 114 and walnut at 58. Elm, ash, beech, rosewood, fruitwood, yew and satinwood appear in smaller numbers.
Timber gets stated more often than style in the titles, which tells you what dealers expect buyers to sort by first.
Does a Chippendale or Hepplewhite name mean 18th century?
Not on its own. Those are pattern names, and they were still being made long after the period they describe.
Titles in the category make the gap visible: 'Set of Eight 17th Century Style Oak Dining Chairs c.1930' and 'George I Design Oak Dining Chairs c.1900' both carry an early style name and a much later date.
Where it matters, listings distinguish 'Hepplewhite period' from 'Hepplewhite style' or 'revival'.
What does a harlequin set of eight mean?
Eight chairs of the same type that didn't all come from one original set. Eight sampled titles use the word, and several more say 'matched' or 'assembled'.
At the other end, dealers write 'true set of eight' or 'sequentially numbered' when the eight did start together.
Are country and kitchen sets of eight common?
They're a large minority. Oak appears in 114 titles, with rush seats, ladder backs, spindle backs and Windsor forms alongside elm and ash.
Regional types get named closely: Lancashire and Cheshire spindlebacks, Liverpool 'ears' spindlebacks, Welsh ball-and-rail farmhouse chairs, Thames Valley stick backs, Yorkshire and Derbyshire oak, East Anglian elm.
How often do sets of eight come up?
About 71 a year on Sellingantiques, listed by 146 different dealers over the archive. The category is spread thinly across the trade rather than held by a few specialists.
One-offs turn up among them: chapel chairs with cross backs and book holders, mahogany ship's armchairs said to be from a British ocean liner, and a single set of French wrought iron and bronze.