What wood are they usually made from?

Mahogany is the default, named in 266 of 678 titles on Sellingantiques, and it pairs constantly with Victorian and Edwardian in the same line. Walnut follows in 124 titles and rosewood in 81. Oak is scarce at 16, and where it appears it tends to sit on Arts and Crafts examples, plainer in outline.

How does an adjustable stool work?

The seat is raised and lowered on a central screw thread, or turns on a column. Titles describe this as adjustable, revolving, swivel, screw top or rise and fall. Adjustable appears in 109 titles and revolving in 63, often on circular seats. The listings name the mechanism rather than describing how it was built.

Why are dressing stools listed under piano stools?

The two forms overlap in practice. Dressing appears in 39 titles, and plain descriptions such as Victorian Mahogany Stool or X-Frame Dressing Stool sit under the same heading. Window seats do the same thing from the other direction, with several titles reading Duet Piano Stool or Window Seat. That group has grown in current stock.

What period do most of them come from?

The dealer-entered dates run from 1800 to 1930. Victorian and Edwardian dominate, and decade tags cluster through the 1860s to the 1910s. Regency accounts for a smaller group, and the 1930s a distinct tail in walnut, birds-eye maple and leather. Treat 19th Century, Victorian and Edwardian as ranges rather than dates, since a fair number of titles use c.1880 or circa 1900 wording.

Are there well-known makers in this category?

No. Names surface only occasionally in the archive, and none recurs across enough dealers to make this a maker-led field. Where a name does appear it comes stamped, on a label, or as an attribution. About 69 stools are listed a year on Sellingantiques and 150 different dealers have handled them, which is a category general furniture dealers touch rather than a specialism.

Do unusual examples ever appear?

They do, as single entries rather than a recognisable group. The archive holds a papier mache and mahogany revolving harpist's stool, a carved mahogany revolving grotto stool and a six-drawer ebonised duet stool. Also recorded: a brass and steel music stool and a chapel organist's stool. Non-English origins are close to absent, with single Venetian, Swedish, Canadian and American pieces against 41 titles that simply say English.

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Antique Piano Stools

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A seat made for a keyboard player, usually in polished mahogany, walnut or rosewood, with either an upholstered top or a hinged lid over a compartment for sheet music.