Antique RW Winfield steel and leather campaign 'rocking' chair
 
PLEASE NOTE - this item has now been sold. If you're looking for something similar please get in touch and we'll do our best to help. 
 
This chair is very different to all the other items listed on this site but it’s such an iconic and important design I just had to buy it and share it with you.
 
Manufactured around the 1870’s this is an excellent example of the RW. Winfield campaign chair. RW. Winfield was a patentee and manufacturer of plain and ornamental cased and patent tubes founded in 1829 and based at Cambridge Street Works in Birmingham, with an office on Fleet Street, London. His company made everyday objects but also specialised in armchairs and metallic bedsteads both for domestic and military use. They won various awards for their metal furniture with this particular design of chair winning the Council Award for a dismantling armchair in recognition of ingenuity and innovation at the Great Exhibition in 1851.
 
Originally produced in metal and brass tube, the chair later went into production in the 1870’s in flat metal bar as shown here. Often described as a ‘rocking chair’ this was not actually it’s function (although one can rock whilst seated). The design allows the entire chair to be taken apart in a short timescale and was produced in this way so it could transported whilst on campaign. The rocking feature, with stops at the front and back, was just a simple method of getting in and out of the chair given that it is essentially a lounging chair.
 
The design of this chair is said to have inspired a number of the greatest designers of our time: most notably Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who used the basis of the design to create a number of cantilever chair designs along with Mart Stam and Marcel Breuer.
 
This particular item has a Royal cipher stamped into the arm which suggests it belonged to a Royal household at some point in its life. Acquired at an estate sale on the Isle of Wight in the UK, this chair was owned by the previous owner for over 60 years. The simple leather sling is unlikely to be the original but is in good vintage condition and wasn’t changed in the previous 60 years of ownership. Who knows, maybe this chair was sat on by Queen Victoria herself at Osborne House? If one could prove the provenance it would be worth a fortune!
 
The metal framework is also in good vintage condition and in the right setting would be a real statement piece.
 
 
Buying
 
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