Pottier & Stymus rosewood double parlor set w/ original silk upholstery

Hi members. I acquired this double parlor set a couple of years ago at a country auction in Western Pennsylvania where it was in the same family of oil and lumber barons since its inception. It retains its original silk upholstery and original finish. It is made of rosewood with burl walnut panels, gilt incising and ebonizing.
They have hard rubber casters with the number 20 impressed on them. The label on the bottom is as seen.
I know they are from a New York maker around 1870. Although they are probably a set from a comtemporary maker of the time I think they come closest to Pottier and Stymus.
It is an 8 piece set with two couches, two arm chairs and 4 side chairs. They were carefully stored and covered in an empty room for decades. The silk is fractured in places and the original horsehair stuffing is intact. There is no evidence of additional nail holes from an earlier re upholstery.
Please help me with a reasonable attribution and let me know if you have heard of the NY wholesaler. Do you think I should keep the original silk or reupholster. Thanks.

J. Ziegler & Co were established in 1849, and remained in business until 1878. The firm offered "a large stock of plain and artistically rich furniture, all of their own manufacture..." and were also decorators.

It is notable that from 1865 to 1870, William Baumgarten was employed by Ziegler "(assisting) in making the designs and in the general management of the business." Baumgarten left the J. Ziegler and Co to become Christian Herter's assistant at, and eventually the head of Herter Brothers, before starting the firm of William Baumgarten and Co. in 1891.

Some cursory info regarding Baumgarten and his employment at Ziegler and Co. can be found on page 229 of Herter Brothers: Furniture and Interiors for a Gilded Age; a more detailed account appears in The National cyclopaedia of American biography [1901].

I find one additional mention of J. Ziegler & Co. in Scientific American, October 28 1865; the article is titled "The Fair of the American Institute," and begins

Although the Exhibition has closed, some objects which have escaped notice hitherto, are worthy of mention.

It then goes on to describe various unsung marvels such as "A Novel Vise," "Morse's Twist Drills," "Tremper's "Chronometer" Governor," and

The Magic Table
This is a curious piece of furniture. To the eye it is a common black-walnut extension table, but by taking hold of one end it can be lifted up, when it is immediately transformed into a sideboard or a set of shelves, and finally folds up into a small compass, so that it looks like a wardrobe.  J. Ziegler & Co., of No. 42 Bleecker steet.

The article is sadly not illustrated...

Thank you for your knowledgeable response. I would never have thought that Zeigler designed his own pieces. I assumed he was the wholesaler for many different companies.
I can see some of the similarities of the piece carried over to Herter Brothers pieces.
You are a wealth of knowledge on high style Victorian furniture.
Would you keep the original upholstery or is this a personal thing, thanks.

Beautiful set!

The colors and upholstery on one of your settees reminds me of one that I got a few years ago.  Mine was in much worse condition and does not have any of the beautiful wood, but you can see from the photos that I really needed to go with reupholstery.  See pics at the link below.

http://victorianforum.com/index.php?topic=24.0

I would think that reupholstery is a judgment call . . . in my opinion, your set looks really nice with the original upholstery.  If you do have it reupholstered, I would suggest that you shoot for replicating what is already there.  If you are looking at the set as an "investment", I don't think that new upholstery will really add much value, let alone "pay for itself".  The button tufting and rouching are, as best I know, not done inexpensively, nor are they to be done by an amateur upholsterer.  Reupholstery of my red-&-gold rocking chair cost me around $800 (price included fabric) . . . my blue-&-parchment settee was closer to $2,000 (excluding fabric).  The economics of such a decision probably influence my opinion on the matter to some degree.

- Jason

Really NEAT, original upholstery. Should you keep it? Can it be restored? I have no clue but i follow this thread with interest.

Beautiful set!  and thanks for sharing it with us.

Whatever you do, try to keep the label intact.  It is so rare to have that documentation.

I have owned several J. Ziegler case pieces, both of which were labeled and both were very similar in design to Pottier & Stymus.  The quality of Ziegler was very good, but the company was doing its most business during the Civil War, but declined in the 1870s as other furniture companies did due to competition elsewhere, including firms like Pottier & Stymus that were much larger.  There is likely many items that were made by Ziegler, but given an spurious attribution since they were not labeled.  This the first labeled parlor suite that I have ever heard of from Ziegler, and most parlor sets were never labeled, other label was removed, make suite quite rare.

Renaissanceman

Well dang, to me the most important feature of this set is the upholstery and no one has posted on OP question, should he keep it, where are the upholstery peeps at?

In my opinion (not an expert), the upholstery looks great and should be saved.  If you remove it, you lose a significant part of the historical value of the set.  After all, the original upholstery is how the designer/maker intended the set to look.  If you chose to reupholster, perhaps you could carefully de-upholster each piece and save the fabric?  Regardless, it is an absolutely stunning parlor set.

BTW - Neal Auction has a nearly identical single chair for sale in the upcoming Louisiana Purchase auction:

Lot 110

They are suggesting, although not attributing, the chair was made by Herter Brothers.  Perhaps someone should correct them. ;D  The auction estimate and final bid should give you an idea of the value of your set.

Thank you all for your valuable information. I can see how many of the unmarked pieces could be confused with Pottier and Stymus. The chair in the upcoming Neal auction is very similar to mine. I have decided to keep the original upholstery for now as it is so unusual to find a set so complete. I plan to post some other interesting pieces including a fine NY dresser once owned by the founder of Marshall Fields in Chicago and a few true Herter Brothers pieces..Thanks again