Tsarist Chair Restored: Forum User Dates It Before 1919

The Tsarist Chair That, According to a Forum User, Survived a 1944 Soviet Bombing Raid

Furniture also keeps an inventory of what peine to it. According to a participant's account, a chair from the Wojciechow Furniture Factory—a workshop active between 1872 and 1933, specializing in beech furniture exported throughout Europe and even to the United States—is standing again after being damaged in the 1944 Soviet air raid. It was restored by an Estonian carpentry workshop that purchased the pieces in Estonia, without clarifying whether they came from a property clearance or an online purchase. The astonishing thing isn't the finish. It's that it still exists.

How to Date a Tsarist Chair Made Before 1919?

The stamp in Cyrillic alphabet is, according to a forum user, the clue. It uses a character that, according to another participant, was later removed by Soviet authorities, which would place its production before 1919. Another forum user believes these chairs are not comfortable and might sell well to a Russophile.

Furniture the USSR Took from Germany After 1945

According to a forum user, Soviet war reparations weren't just machinery. In 1945, thousands of railway wagons left Germany, also loaded with furniture, furnishings, and antiques.

Why This Furniture Was Saved from the Stove

According to a forum user, for decades, old and broken furniture in Russia had a likely fate: the fireplace. Harsh climate, wars, and hardship turned furniture into fuel. That pieces from the 1800s-1830s survive—like that Empire-style chest of drawers made of pine, not mahogany, for the Russian middle class—is, for him, almost a miracle. The same forum user mentions that the Estonian carpenter travels around Tallinn's flea markets looking for interesting furniture.