Good morning all. Long time forum lurker, but first time poster. A seller in my town has listed an interesting mid century modern sofa and chair combo for sale. I have not seen the furniture in person, but they sent me 3 admittedly poor photographs. They mentioned that they cannot locate any tags or identifiers, but add that in their opinion, the design elements are in the style of Jens Risom or Adrian Pearsall. At any rate, I really like the pieces. I am most struck by how unusual the armrests are. That being said, I would be more willing to spend the amount they are asking if I was buying pieces that could be attributed to a well known designer. I appreciate any help you can provide. Thanks in advance!
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Thank you for the info. I didn't even realize they were posted on eBay. The funny thing is, they are asking slightly more in person than on eBay, and if you take into account that they would lose approximately 13% between eBay and PayPal fees, I may have a little bit of bargaining power doing the in person transaction.
They're not in the archive of Pearsall catalog photos that have been online forever, though they do have that look.
https://web.archive.org/web/20130810102843/http://www.adrianpearsall.com...
Pearsall's stuff was generally not that exaggerated, though...or something? When he did those kind of arms they were not so big and wide and were generally not on very chunky, blocky furniture like this sofa and chair. It's an odd combination.
I'd worry about those arms, too---they invite perching on by guests who aren't aware of the limitations of the material. Of course if you don't have the kind of get-togethers where this type of thing happens, it's not an issue. I'd also want to make sure that the upholstery is in great shape because redoing those would add a chunk of change to the price, which isn't cheap to begin with.
Thank you for the educated opinions on the pieces. I suspect that with the exposure they have surely received in the time they have been on eBay, some MCM aficionado somewhere would have snatched them up if they were something rare and wonderful, or at least reached out to the seller with the correct designer/producer attribution so they could revise their eBay listing.
Probably a moot point this long after the discussion. This ensemble may be by Selrite. A higher end manufacturer in the '60s. They designed pieces "inspired" by Pearsall. The back cushions look exactly like those from a floating sofa and chair my parents bought new in 1967. Selrite used a lot of walnut, walnut grained laminate and nubby nylon-blend hop sack upholstery.
I think your pieces have a lot of flair.
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