Are chesterfields always leather?

No. Leather is named in 145 of 440 titles and takes up close to half of current stock, so it's the covering you'll see most. Fabric runs to roughly one in ten titles: velvet, calico linen, damask, grey wool, heavy cotton. One 1930s piece was recovered in car leather.

What does a chesterfield sofa look like?

A rolled back with arms of even height, the seat and back pulled down into buttoning. Scroll or roll arms get named now and then in place of the plain description. Legs, where they're described at all, are turned with brass cappings and casters.

How old are most of them?

The dated field spans 1800 to 1960. The 1880s and 1890s are where the weight sits, with 69 and 34 listings respectively. There's a substantial 20th-century tail: 30 in the 1930s, 23 in the 1900s, 20 in the 1910s, 16 in the 1920s and a dozen flagged Edwardian. The earliest firmly dated pieces are given as 1850 and 1860.

Which makers turn up on the label?

Howard & Sons is the name that appears most often, and the only one to sit at the very top of the range, including two crescent-shaped examples dated c1850 and c1860. Hampton & Sons, Gillows, C. Hindley & Sons and Holland & Sons each turn up with a small number of dealers. Names come stamped, labelled or simply attributed, and the great majority of chesterfields carry no name at all.

Were chesterfields made outside Britain?

The archive is British almost throughout. The one exception is a small run of Swedish leather chesterfields, with 'swedish' in eight titles. No other origin is named.

Why are some sold as frames?

A visible minority of listings are offered plainly for recovering, for restoration or for reupholstery, with the old covering still on the frame. These cluster at the bottom of the range. Some dealers instead offer reupholstery included, or leather to be hand dyed a colour of choice. Around 44 chesterfields are listed a year on Sellingantiques across 85 dealers, so both routes are always in stock somewhere.

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Antique Chesterfields

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A deep-buttoned sofa with a rolled back and arms of even height, made in Britain from the 19th century as seating for libraries, clubs and country houses.