Help ID these mid century lounge chairs  

Guess I'm having some issues with file sizes and I'm doing it from my tablet at work.  Either way think I've included enough to show what I mean.  So I guess I'm wondering now what you think, I mean the chairs are identical otherwise and the closest I've seen other then those details now just wondering if a designer builder would make changes to their style of work.  Every chair my friend and I could find on the web were like this for Robsjohn's chairs and lounge chairs.  I've personally seen this type of detail on some other dansk pieces we have but no searches resembling the chair by any of them.  Thoughts? 

Interesting.

For purposes of reference (and because I'm a stickler for accurate nomenclature), the sculpted joinery illustrated is sometimes called a false mitre which, I believe, is a form of mason's mitre.

It wouldn't have been unusual for Widdicomb's production methods to have evolved with demand and subsequent use of specialized tooling to reduce the need for skilled hand work.

Ok excellent love learning a new term. So tktoo2, your still quite confident that they are in fact Robsjohn Gibbings?.  That being said I value your opinion on whether you believe that Ziggy's chairs with the sculpted 90's and false mitres would, predate or postdate the examples found online and posted of Robsjohn's chairs with the mitered 90's and fitted or carved joints ( or jig )of two overlapping radius joinery on the other then mitered joints.  My personal opinion would be that the sculpted 90 used on Ziggy's chairs is the more difficult over the mitre joint therefore would predate.  But the other joinery on the his chair is of lesser difficulty over the fitted radius joinery of the Robsjohn examples. Still nicely done and feel as though craftsmanship wasn't compromised even though it is a false miter or shaped to look as though radius blends into radius ( I'm referring the the joinery used where the horizontal pieces of the seat portion supports tie into the legs on Ziggy's chairs ) therefore also think this was a technique that might have been used prior to possible jigs that might have made the actual overlapping radius joint we see in the Robsjohn examples.  I am convinced that if they are indeed Robsjohn's chairs that they would be some of his earlier examples of this lounge chair.  I'm asking because I really can't stop searching until I find a matching example but doesn't appear to make a difference what I search I keep finding the same chairs.  A little frustrating but at the same time I'm very intrigued.  How about and I'm not sure if there's a term for it but I'll call them built-in cushions vs the removable cushions, which of those predate each other in the mid century furniture?  And for this particular question I guess I'm referring to pre 70's

Thanks again

@milo-2, I have no expertise with these. From the pics provided, the frames appear near identical in design and proportion to known examples. The curly figure in the light-colored wood also suggests N American origin. ...However, perusing a hundred or so images online reveals not a single Widdicomb chair of this design with either an upholstered back or anything but mitered and coped joinery.

In other words, I do think it would be advisable to secure reliable authentication before labeling them as anything other than "style of" Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb. Sorry I can't provide such.

Best of luck to both you and Ziggy (tell them to try again, the "you have been banned" thing is a bug that happens often with this site).

After seeing close up details of the chairs, I agree with tktoo2 that for now, it is just "in the style" or "in the manner of" Gibbings.  Grand Rapids, MI (where Widdicomb was) is just one of the several furniture manufacturing centers in the USA and anyone of those factories could have produced look alikes of the high end Gibbings chairs.

So where can we go from here? Where would one get a reputable authentification or ID on them?

either way in my opinion they are beautiful and well constructed so worth the investment of time and Upolstery cost. But I'm certain we both won't be able to let go of this hunt of making an ID on them.  I have searched some more and have seen the sculpted 90's and what appears to be a false mitre on some of Robsjohn's other chairs and items, but very difficult with quality of posted pictures and not much available with close ups of his joinery. So I'm asking where would you go from here? 

@milo-2, Typically, one would seek a written appraisal from a established professional appraiser holding a current certificate from and membership in one or more of the recognized accrediting professional associations or organizations. Preferably, one with expertise in mid-century modern furniture. I believe that some of the larger, long-established dealers offer this. These services come at a price of course...

Caveat: I know very, very, very little about TH Robsjohn Gibbings. That said, if I were looking for reasons to believe or disbelieve that a piece was made by Widdicomb, I would look for exactly these sorts of details.  In my experience they don’t change unless a company changes.  A company commissions designs for its labor, machinery, distribution, retailers, customers etc.  And unless major parts of that change things like a false miter doesn’t change to a real miter.  

I would look at the bottom of the chair and try to find the bottoms of other Widdicomb chairs.  I am guessing they won’t match.  The bottom of the chair is where the maker really “let’s it all hang out” and that is where most of the telltales are.  

Statistically I would estimate the odds are high, based on your excellent research, that you have some unusual look alike to a TH Robsjohn Gibbings.

I don't have a lot to add but did come across a couple of potentially relevant bits.  First, here's a old DA thread discussing another Robsjohn-style chair with some good notes by @Spanky about the upholstery:

http://old.designaddict.com/comment/178142

And the chair shown here has the same false miter joints as the OP's.  It was listed by Billings auction house  as "in the style of Robsjohn-Gibbings".  I saw a few other chairs that were "in the style of" but none was marked.  Every Widdicomb-tagged chair I saw had 45- degree mitered joints on front of arms and top of backrest frames.  

@mark737! I almost remember that thread.

Those were the days, though, eh?

@tktoo2  Yeah, funny I just read the entire thread and see now that he found out later it was a Paul McCobb chair.  So, I guess that thread has no relevance to this one, other than showing that other designers and makers put out similar chairs in the 50's.  

Thank you, Leif and Mark737

           Mark737 that chair you posted is identical except I think it's Oak and believe Ziggy's to be something else only by grain appearance. Either way great find and wanted to thank you. Now I have attempted to search for " in the style of Robsjohn Gibbings lounge chair" with no success. I've also tried searching the auctions site mentioned with no luck. I'm hoping that you read this post and could perhaps post a link of your search that produced a couple images of this chair. And also maybe a link the the auction site on this chairs page. I'm hoping that these two links might help direct my search further, but also might be helpful for getting an idea of what they looked like originally.  From what I know that auction site appears to be in California and Ziggy and myself are located in Vancouver BC, so I'd like to see where some of the other chairs are located and wondering if I could narrow the search at all by locations as right now based on information the two known to me appear to be on the west coast of North America. Thanks again to everyone all all your insight and help so far. 

@milo-2  Sure, no problem.  Here's the link to the chair Billings sold:  

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/51121028_th-robsjohn-gibbings-style-lounge-chair

I also came across this one on Chairish with similar joinery:

https://www.chairish.com/product/id/2129447

Not that this helps ID the chairs either as or not as Robsjohn's lounge chairs but I did find some other chairs of his with the same details as Ziggy's. Not the lounge chair but in his slipper, chair a dinning chair, and another style arm chair I've found sculpted 90's and false mitres. This make me go back to what tktwo2 said earlier that is wouldn't be unusual for details to change as the chair evolved or production increased or tooling for production became available.  I find it very hard to believe no matter how hard I search there is very limited information on details on his work. For instance chair model or number ID he has at least 5-6 varieties of the same style chair but can't find any sort of designation for any of them. What sort of webbing he used was used on his chairs or webbing examples. What his chairs would have been stuffed with originally. Everything I find is so incomplete, therefore it makes me hesitate to recommend Ziggy get them professionally appraised, but also who would be creditable and have that knowledge. Only because we live in the day we live in and with the Internet at our fingertips I can't believe how limited the information I can find is. No catalogues, no chair designation, style or variation codes, information of materials used etc... Anyways including a couple photos of other confirmed  Robsjohn chairs if found which make me reconsider these chairs as his. 

Another armless chair but not the slipper