Antique Tonk Chicago NY Victorian Adjustable Birch Piano Organ or Vanity Stool

Description

Tonk Victorian Modernist Piano, Organ or Vanity Stool. Circa last quarter of 19th cenutry. Made from birch with a geometric ribbed frame and adjustable seat.

Max Tonk & the Tonk MFG Co. (est. 1873)
The first enterprise to bear the Tonk name was the Tonk Manufacturing Company, a “fancy furniture” business founded in Chicago in 1873 as Seaver, Tonk & Co., 87-89 West Lake Street. Best known for its line of quality piano stools and benches, this specific company was the brainchild of Max Tonk (b. 1851), second oldest son of German immigrants Johann Wilhelm Tonk and Albertine Tonk (nee Bauer).

Max and his big brother William Tonk (b. 1848), were both born in Berlin, but made the long journey with their parents to America when they were still in diapers, giving them no vivid memories of the old country. Initially, the traveling Tonks settled in Newark, New Jersey, but by about 1857—following the birth of another son, Charles—they all headed west to join up with extended family in Chicago. This included Mama Tonk’s brother, Julius Bauer (or “Uncle Julius” to the Tonk boys), who ran his own music shop at 99 South Clark Street, producing and importing drums, strings, and the same type of silver and brass band instruments his nephews would be peddling 50 years later.

Condition

Good Antique Condition with some past repairs to the seat.

Dimensions

24" x 16.5" x 16.5", goes 17.5" to 24"h, seat 13.75"d