Bertoia Side Chair - Orgiinal Mounts & Welds Or Not?  

Hi all,
Just hoping to get a 2nd opinion on this. I brought this Bertoia chair off ebay in Germany. The seller described it as being 100% original with no re-welds or breaks. I recieved the chair in the UK yesterday and from my experience the mounts that fix the seat to the base look to be modern fabrications, which have been re-welded with very heavy messy welds to the seat unit. So I emailed him and said this, and he replied saying that he has owned the chair for 40 years and this is the way that the German Knoll Bertoia side chairs were manufactured, this sounds like a complete lie to me, as I thought Knoll only manufactured these chairs in France for the european market during that time...but I could be wrong?!? Hopefully someone can help? I have attached some photos for reference.
Thanks in advance for your help.
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