Are these stools actually Turkish?

No. Ottoman here is a furniture term for the deep-upholstered, often lidded stool that Western makers took up from Turkish precedent. The origins named in titles are English above all, then French on 34 listings and Swedish on 8, with single Italian, Syrian and Anglo-Indian pieces scattered through the archive.

What timber are they usually made from?

Walnut leads on 72 titles, mahogany follows on 69 and rosewood on 37. Oak is a distant fourth on 14. Higher-range listings name figured and decorative surfaces instead: burr walnut, satinwood, birds-eye maple, gonçalo alves, giltwood and parcel gilt.

Do ottoman stools open for storage?

Some do. A substantial minority of the category is the box-seat form, with a padded top that lifts or unscrews over a well, and titles that read dressing box, sewing box or work box. The rest are solid-topped: small footstools, long window seats and centre stools with no storage at all.

Scale swings further than any other feature. The samples include a five-foot buttoned long stool, an 80cm square footstool, and pieces given as 148 by 64cm and 95 by 75cm. At the other end are footstools described only as small, low enough to be meant for the feet.

How common are pairs?

Roughly one in eleven listings is a pair, so 38 titles in all. Above two, the archive holds only a suite of three Gothic stools and a set of two library footstools.

Can the upholstery be original?

Titles are explicit either way. Newly upholstered means a recovered top; for upholstery or ready for upholstery means the opposite, and sprung-top frames turn up sold that way. Needlepoint and tapestry covers appear on 8 titles or so, sometimes described as original to the stool, sometimes as a later fitting. Leather, tweed, ticking stripe, silk, damask and kilim all appear among the named coverings.