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possibly used for pedicures?

Could it have been used in a shoe store? I vaguely remember stools like this used to rest your leg on while shoes were being fitted.

yep, I vote for shoe store device. I have fuzzy memories of the nice man who used to fit me for new shoes at Buster Brown's at the start of each school year. I think he sat in the back and put my foot up on it in front.

I think it is a "gout stool", for sufferers of the condition. See this site,

http://www.bettym.com/images/collections/benches/20681-LordshipsGoutStool.html

for an image of another gout stool.

Not sure why they were designed this way, but it has something to do with the nature of gout.

http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/default.asp?Document=200.23.001.06


this is the closet photo I could find of a gout stool

Jako, that is the only other one I could find too. But the shape is identical.

I am under the impression this stool is a traditional form, outliving its more clinical originations and is merely decorative nowadays... this stool might be old, maybe 1890's with 50's upostery or it could be merely mid 20th century in age, the legs seem too plain for 1890's... the plain tapered legs might be 18th century however... if you pull away the upolstery a 200 year old stool should be obvious in its age showing many old nail holes etc from various re-upolstering over the decades, maybe with the old horsehair stuffings

cat lounger.

My first thought was shoe store stool.