pricing our tet-a-tet

Hello, we have an old wooden tet-a-tet (I think that's the spelling)
that has carved faces on it and wondered how much it is worth. It is a
chair that seats 2 people on alternating sides that faces each other so
they can converse. It's quite a nice piece but unfortunately I have no
history on it.

Karen Burns...

I am sorry that I can't offer much help in identifying a maker or age for
this piece, but I really think it's lovely. If you cannot find a buyer, you
are more than welcome to send it to me; I would give it a very loving home!
: )

Karen
(still on the hunt for one like they had on the ADDAMS FAMILY show... it was
in the living room, and was a shorter, round-seated version, with a much
darker (cherry?) wood. (hard to tell for sure, as the show was b&w... but I
have loved that bench and wanted one since I was probably 8 or 9 years old!)

Kris Baker...

tete-a-tete

Incantatrix...

tête-à-tête is the correct spelling.

We don't really know it's history, either. Did you inherit it, purchase
it,
find it.....and when did this happen? If it was in the family, who did it
belong to and when did they get it? What kind of wood is it?

Most of the time, you never find the history of an item unless you
can trace back its ownership.

You could inspect it, bottom-up, and see if there are any maker's
or retailer's markings.

Lee...

Kris.... weren't they the original 'love seat'? When I was a kid,
neighbours had one that was covered in horse hair upholstery. From her
description, you put the daughter in it, her suitor in the other part,
they were able to face each other but the construction was designed to
block the functioning of anything below the waist!
Lee in Toronto

Kris Baker...

Lee's right about the origin of this style. The older ones I've seen
are much plainer, without lots of carvings to catch in the longer
skirts worn in the past centuries.

I may have missed your reply to my questions about how old it is,
how you got it, what you paid for it, etc. You said "old" but
some one else here, yesterday, thought 1960s was "old"
and antique.

This is just my opinion, based on seeing carved antiques
and see lots of reproductions brought back by military and
tourists who'd visited Southeast Asia and the Philippines.

I think it's relatively new (within the last 30 years or so). The
thin "wings" on the carvings show no damage or wear, which
they should show, if they are as delicate as they look here:
The finish looks like the type of shellac put on the recent
import copies, although it's dusty (which doesn't add age).
The cushion fabric must be new, because it should show
grime from all the dust that fell elsewhere on the piece.
That's odd to have new, clean upholstery and grime and
dust in the carvings.

I find it quite similar to the one in this one:

You can watch to see if anyone will meet the seller's price (but
they didn't before, because it's been relisted at least once).