This Is a Cockfight Chair

The auction house Cooper Hewitt offers for sale this unusual piece of furniture. It's called a cockfight chair.

When it was made in the 1720s or 30s in England, reading was becoming increasingly popular for gentlemen. When a man wished to read, he would place a book on the back board, then straddle the chair in a Riker Maneuver. He could place his arms on the rests and keep writing implements on the small shelf.

How did it get the name "cockfight chair"? The Handbook of Antique Chairs explains that "Fops would recline on the chair between bouts and rise, straddling the saddle, to watch the bird-killing sport."

-via TYWKIWDBI


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There are some interesting pairs. CA is both bad for business; despit this, it has the most productive businesses.
[That could be because of natural monopolies, in theory. In practice I think it's that innovative tech companies seem to be ok with the business environment in CA.]
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Speaking as someone who lives in Massachusetts, I uttered a hearty "WTF" about our "worst." After reading some articles about it, it turns out that we have the highest reported rate of child neglect/abuse, but that's primarily because our reporting rules are extremely strict; other states surely have much higher rates of abuse, but many more of those cases go unreported. I imagine a lot of the things (particularly worsts) on this list are similar misrepresentations.
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