It turns out that Cevedra B. Sheldon was a designer/inventor as well.
On February 1, 1876, Sheldon was granted a patent for the invention of a new kind of reclining lounge chair/"invalid chair". The chair went into mass production by the Marks Adjustable Folding Chair Company of New York:
Image: Brooklyn Museum CollectionThe Marks company defended its product line assiduously, bringing suit against imitators:
The Federal Reporter: Volume 43, Sept.-Dec. 1890Many of these folding chairs appear to have survived and to come up for auction fairly frequently. A casual search on "Cevedra B. Sheldon" yields the following examples currently for sale:
5 comments:
Hello!! I just want to thank you for posting all of these wonderful articles about my great-uncle Cevedra and his work. I am the family genealogist and he was a bit of a mystery to me. For many years (literally, since the 1850's) he has been listed only as "Sevedra Sheldon" in a few minor genealogies and I was never able to find him (or her, I didn't even know the gender until today). Then I found an 1855 state census that listed "Sevedra Sheldon, male, age 15" with his father and a sister. Realizing he was a "he", I was determined to find more and, in expanding my search for misspellings of the name, found Cevedra B. Sheldon! His brother, my 3rd great-grandfather William Wallace Barbour Sheldon was also an architectural engineer although, unlike Cevedra, I don't think he was ever a designer. He built the famous Mark Hopkins mansion in San Francisco and the original Santa Monica Pier. Now, thanks to you, I have a wealth of additional information on my great-uncle. If you would like any info on his origins I would be happy to share them with you. - Dale Sheldon
How much are the invalid chairs going for?
How much do the Sheldon invalid chairs go for?
They can go for anywhere between $800 and $4000 depending on the quality.
I was wondering if anyone can tell me if this is an actual Marks chair or if it was by another maker from around that time. The rocking mechanism is what throws me off. I cannot seem to find any exactly like it except for one I saw for sale in Milan. Italy.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/210775782/reserved-for-tanya-patented-marks-chair?ref=shop_home_active_7
Thanks,
Adrian
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