Lot 1109

Overall condition good, consistent with age and use, good patination and excellent depth of colour to the blackwood.
Three filled fixing holes to the roundel in the top rail of the seat back where something has been removed. Some wear on the roundel to the right hand side below armrest. Seat rails and corner braces appear to be later replacements.
The back panel is made from separate sections of wood and these are separating, also there is a small crack to the left hand side of the centre panel.The side panels are also separating slightly.
There is an old filled crack to the front apron just to the left of the centre join, and a crack to the right hand spandrel.


The opinions expressed in the condition reports are a guide only and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Prospective buyers are encouraged to inspect articles for sale at our pre-sale viewing where Leonard Joel staff are available for advice.
Leonard Joel makes no guarantee of the originality of mechanical or applied components. Absence of reference to such modifications does not imply that a lot is free from modifications.

The original Speaker's chair from the first Parliament of a federated Australia, and used at the opening ceremony by the Duchess of York, later Queen Mary. The Speaker, Sir Frederick Holder claimed the chair as a prerequisite of office, officiating from the chair over the first Federal Parliaments until his death in 1909. The original design drawings by Thomas Chuck dated 26th August 1856 for the Speaker's Chair in the Victorian State Parliament survive, this design being reused by Charles Johnston & Co for this chair manufactured for use in the first Federal Parliament. For a more detailed history of the chair and its precedent, see the article by J. B. Hawkins "The Australian Federal Parliament and the Speaker's Chair" Furniture History, Vol. 37 (2001), pp. 121-134.