ID Authentic Arne Hovmand-Olsen Side Table?  

I am certain that neither the coffee table nor the side table are solid teak tops. They are solid teak edge banding with a veneer field.

Mogens Kold was terrible about marking product.

I would not have any doubts that it is real. It would be nice to know why the differences exist though....

By coincidence, this same table design popped up on craigslist yesterday (for five hundo). I initially thought it was the same table as this, until I noticed yours did not have the black mark on top,

Anyway, I'm including six photos from the listing so you can compare with yours. One of the photos will probably put your mind at ease. . .

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/atq/5979126257.html

And in that photo you can clearly, absolutely see the veneer grain on the top of the table.

And in case you wondered, it can not be bookmatched slabs of solid teak because of the edge banding and wood movement. If it were bookmatched solid slabs of teak with the end lips carved out of the same slab it would be incredibly more expensive. And quite impressive. I can't think of ever seeing this sort of work even in danish cabinetmaker pieces, but I am sure somebody did it a few times, just not Mogens Kold. Not even close.

Could we get a clear close-up of the material used in the woven shelf? I was thinking yours was not original because it doesn't look like the binder cane that was typical for this kind of table shelf--but then the one in the link provided by cdsilva looks like the same thing so it probably is original. I'm just curious.

(If your camera won't focus on it, it will help to put a sheet of blank paper under the woven material. Auto-focus tends to insist on focusing on the background texture when the subject is very narrow or small. Eliminating all background texture will force it to settle on the strands of whatever that stuff is.)

Thanks for all the comments!

I guess I wrongly assumed it was solid teak given how heavy the top was! But thanks for the clarification :). Now I know!

I'm glad to see that it very well is an authentic Mogens Kold piece by AHO!

It's quite dirty so it's likely I'll give it a full once-over to clean it up. It's in otherwise fantastic condition 🙂

What are your thoughts on cleaning/restoration. I'd like to retain as much of its original patina as possible and will likely just use an application of Spanky's method but is there anyway I can clean the paper cord? I'm worried that the oil might stain it. I'm not sure if I should completely disassemble the side table or just remove the top and carefully get around the nooks and crannies.

As for the weave, I'll try to post a better photo tonight. In words, it's definitely not binder cane like it is on my coffee table. Rather, it feels and looks alot more like paper cord. I was also inclined to think its not original but what are the chances that two of the same pieces in two very different cities has the exact same detail?

I'll follow up tonight!

If it's paper cord you can do a soap treatment on it that will even out minor variations in color due to staining or whatever, and it will help block any oil from soaking in when you treat the wood. You could also just remove the cord and redo it later. That's about the simplest paper cord job ever! If that's what it is, i mean.

Could you include a photo of the underside, too? The CL listing has one so we can compare.

I would disassemble it where it unscrews for ease of cleaning.

I've attached some new photos for your consideration!

I've looked at the bottom of the table and can't seem to find any inkling of a stamp that might have faded.

The weave is again, some kind of paper cord or string. It's very quite thin, maybe 2-3 mm, but its quite taut when pressing down on it lightly.

One more photo of the string/twine/cord for potential id of the material!

I managed to salvage as much of it as possible in the hopes of reweaving it.

I did a spot test and found that the side table was stained over the teak (who does that??) which gave it it's strange reddish hue.

As I'll be stripping this off, I got a little more up close with the shelf.

Any guesses as to what this might be?