

PROPERTY OF A PROMINENT PRIVATE CONNECTICUT COLLECTOR
This set of chairs had been used for decades in the Ropes family home at 124 Federal Street in Salem, Massachusetts. Research, deeds and probate records have shown that John Ropes bequeathed the land and house on it to his son Jonathan when he died in 1754. The Wald family retained ownership until 1818 after which the house was passed to John Holman, a mariner, to Reverend John Brazer of the North church, and to Captain Thomas Perkins, a shipmaster and merchant. Much of the interior architectural detail in the main portion of the house is attributed to Samuel McIntire, with chimney pieces carved with drapery swags and baskets of flowers and fruit.